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This is an interactive era, We want our students to be more independ-
ent. They should be asking the questions.” — Mary Ann McLoughlin ’63, professor of mathematics
down any avenue I want,” said Mike Alston ’14, a Spanish and criminal justice major who devoted a study trip to Panama researching the difference in status between African blacks and those from the West Indies. “I can tell people ‘here is the research I did. I did it all in Spanish and I did it myself.’” He stood in one of the long rows of posters displayed at the fourth annual undergraduate research symposium, which filled the Nolan Gym in April. Dressed in business attire, students provided an oral narrative with the visuals. Their projects spanned the humanities, sciences, education and business, taking up effects of China’s one-child policy; the roots of black poverty; the macro invertebrates of the Vlomanskill; the use of math in M.C. Escher’s art; gen-
der in the written language; and water contamination caused by microplastics in skin care products. “A lot of people have no idea what’s in their facial scrubs. I was surprised,” said Amelia Bach, a communications major who set up and executed an online survey of 150 students to learn what brand they used. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, and it’s scary to see the result,” said Bryan Barry, a geology major who then analyzed the content of the products to calculate
the amount of plastic going down the drain. Erin Mitchell ’95, an associate professor of Spanish and world languages chair, applauds the approach. Today, when Saint Rose students visit another country, they are expected to do far more than practice their Spanish. “On a trip to Costa Rica last year, a student wanted to learn how animals were affected by ecotourism, so she went and did interviews at a bat museum! I never would have taken her to a bat museum!” noted Mitchell, who is a linguist. “But she did interviews and found that not everyone was happy with the eco-tourism. We expect that degree of real and original research. Twenty years ago, that would have been unheard of.”
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