West campus undergraduates are uncovering secrets of addiction, cancer and many other subjects with the help of newly established research scholarships from the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.
All 19 students who applied for the New College Undergraduate Inquiry and Research Experiences scholarship found out in November they would receive funding for their projects. As the money comes in, some recipients are finding more opportunities with the research they’re pursuing.
The students received $2,500 each for their research, plus $500 for supplies.
Psychology sophomore Amanda Piltz, one of the 19 scholarship winners, is studying the effects of methadone on recovering heroin addicts.
Methadone is a drug that is commonly considered the “gold standard” to prevent heroin addicts from relapsing.
Piltz plans to personally survey about 80 former heroin addicts at halfway houses across the Valley to measure how methadone affects impulsiveness.
Piltz said she would use a one-time survey because it’s often difficult to track recovering heroin addicts at halfway houses.
The survey measures the addict’s ability to delay gratification by asking questions such as “Would you prefer a small amount of money now or a larger amount of money later?” she said.
Piltz said she would probably have pursued her research without the scholarship, but without the funding she wouldn’t have been able to complete the entire process herself. The money will also help her apply for publication in a science journal.
The scholarship is beneficial for students, Piltz said, because it helps promote undergraduate research at the West campus.
Before the scholarships were established, students could seek out research opportunities with professors, but they were often unfunded.
“Most people didn’t know about research opportunities here until they saw the scholarship,” she said.
A review committee of West campus professors announced in November that every applicant would receive funding for their projects.
“We were hopeful we would receive diverse content,” said Todd Sandrin, the associate director of the college’s Division of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
The scholarship’s review process was designed to allow research proposals from all undergraduate fields in the New College: humanities, arts and cultural studies; mathematical and natural sciences; and social and behavioral sciences.
Each research proposal was judged on clarity.
Life sciences junior Shane Batie also received a scholarship for his research into the causes of colon cancer. He began his work a year ago under biological chemistry professor Peter Jurutka, and he is nearing the end of his study of the effects vitamin D has on cancer cells.
Batie said his experimentation has shown that when vitamin D receptors in the body are exposed to both vitamin D and resveratrol, an anti-oxidant found in the skin of red grapes, genes are stimulated hat produce tumor-repressing proteins.
Batie said he was happy to be awarded the scholarship, and he will continue his research of vitamin D receptors and their connection with cancer.
This semester the New College Undergraduate Inquiry and Research Experiences scholarship is offering three different opportunities for undergraduate research: an assistant position, a scholar and a fellow. The new positions are meant to introduce more undergraduates to research, Sandrin said.
Research assistants will work five hours of every week and receive $625 for the semester. The scholarships will remain at $2,500 plus $500 for supplies. The fellowships, which will be available to scholars who reapply, will offer $3,000 plus $500 for supplies.
Similar undergraduate research scholarships are available at various colleges on the Tempe, Polytechnic and Downtown campuses.
Sandrin said he hopes the program will continue to grow and hopes to pursue outside funding.
Reach the reporter at mary.shinn@asu.edu
