Stony Brook University students above and below at work in Professor Nancy Hollingsworth’s lab before the pandemic. Photos courtesy of Stony Brook University.
College dreams ON HOLD BY ABIGAIL CARMONA Dr. Peter Gergen, a professor of biochemistry at Stony Brook University, spoke recently of the struggles that students conducting independent research faced during the coronavirus pandemic. They needed field work to complete their studies — and their degrees — but were unable to carry it out because of long months spent quarantining. “There were students who were registered for research in the spring …. They needed to do something, so they all did it remotely,” Gergen said. Every summer for the past 25 years, the university has provided funding for students to conduct independent research, and in the biology department, more than 40 students received funding to carry out their projects during the pandemic. “The biology program has been adding money into that pot to support more students to do research,” Gergen said. Students had to receive letters from faculty members, stating they were willing to sponsor the students virtually. Underclassmen were not allowed to conduct research in the second half of the spring semester or in the summer, because upperclassmen, who were soon to graduate, were the priority. However, in the fall 2021 semester, underclassmen will again will be allowed to conduct in-person research, if they fit into university-approved faculty members’ research plans. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the university saw a decline in research participation last fall and this spring, particularly
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