Summer Scholars

Would you rather flip hamburgers (or paint houses or mow lawns) or spend a summer on the Roanoke campus using your mind? Would you like to get a package worth more than $5,500 for feeding your curiosity?  Summer scholars are paid $3,000, receive summer housing (valued at $1,400), and a summer course credit.

Roanoke's Summer Scholar Program is designed for serious students who want to use their summers wisely and work one-on-one with faculty. Every year, students compete for selection to receive one of the summer scholarships. Faculty from across the college review student research proposals and decide these prestigious awards.

For Summer Scholars, the experience continues into the fall, as every student presents their project during Family Weekend. A good salary. A mind-expanding summer. A chance to strut your stuff. It all adds up.


Recent Summer Scholars Projects (2022)

Humanities

  • Janelle Costa. Visiting an Ancient Egyptian Oasis: What Ceramic Artifacts from ‘Split Rock’ Can Reveal About Ancient Travelers and the Paths they Chose. Major: Art History, History. (Faculty Mentor: Leslie Warden, Fine Arts)
  • Isabelle Hill. Transfiguration: Morphing of the Female Body in Myth. Major: Art. (Faculty Mentor: Kate Shortridge, Fine Arts)
  • Ivey Kline. The Legacy of Georgianna Saunders: Race, Gender, and Black Midwifery in Southwest Virginia, 1914-1940. Major: History. (Faculty Mentor: Jesse Bucher, History)
  • Lillian Pingel. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: The Whitest Christian Denomination in the United States. Major: Sociology. (Faculty Mentor: Melanie Trexler)
  • Megan Reynolds. The Internal Lavender Menace: Challenges within the Lesbian Feminist Movement, 1970 to the Present. Major: History, Music. (Faculty Mentor: Samantha Rosenthal)

Social Sciences

  • Cooper Neeble. Accuracy of Fitness Metrics in Wrist-worn Wearables Between Dominant and Nondominant Arms in a Diverse Cohort. Major: Health and Exercise Science. (Faculty Mentor: Cory Scott, Health & Human Performance)
  • Maryam Nishtar. Physical Changes in the Brain as a function of Clinical Dementia Ratings in Women with Alzheimer’s Disease. Major: Psychology, Biochemistry. (Faculty Mentor: David Nichols, Psychology)

Math/Science

  • David Adams. The Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Zebrafish Metabolism. Major: Biology. (Faculty Mentor: Samantha St. Clair, Biology)
  • Aaron Gabryluk. Immersive Virtual Reality: A Study of Haptic Feedback’s Influence on Presence. Major: Computer Science. (Faculty Mentor: Durell Bouchard, Math, Computer Science, and Physics)
  • Haley Keene. Development of Methodologies to Analyze Antimalarial Drugs from Developing Nations. Major: Biochemistry. (Faculty Mentor: Tim Johann, Chemistry)
  • Luke Konst. Exploring Synthetic Utility of Palladium-Catalyzed Reactions. Major: Chemistry. (Faculty Mentor: Skip Brenzovich, Chemistry)
  • Zachary Krumm. Exploring the use of sodium potassium alloy in metal reduction and coupling reactions for highly fluorinated aromatics. Major: Biochemistry. (Faculty Mentor: Gary Hollis, Chemistry)
  • Davis Tingle. Drone Delivery Optimization in Mixed Fields. Major: Math, Computer Science. (Faculty Mentor: Anil Shende, Math, Computer Science, and Physics)

Roanoke students also frequently present their research work at regional and national professional conferences.  Most summer scholars present their work at such conferences in addition to the on-campus Showcase of Experiential Learning.

For more information contact the Director of Undergraduate Research (research@roanoke.edu)