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SURF Students Get Feet Wet

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Posted on July 28, 2021

Thomas Becnel

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Just two years ago, Liz Seiler spent a carefree summer working at a Baton Rouge water park called Blue Bayou.

Now she鈥檚 a riding an academic wave named SURF 鈥� a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 鈥� with a meteorology project studying the relationship between sea breezes and thunderstorms on the Gulf Coast. This research will become part of her Honors College thesis at the University of South Alabama. It could improve her chances of getting into graduate school.

鈥淚 do think it would help,鈥� Seiler said. 鈥淚n fact, one of the grad instructors I reached out to actually asked me if I had any coding and research experience.鈥�

She isn鈥檛 the only South student making SURF a pivotal moment in their college careers.

Each year, 60 undergraduate proposals are selected for the summer program. Students receive a $2,000 stipend. They are expected to finish papers or posters by the end of August.

Most projects are scientific trials and experiments. Lots of engineering students propose work with their professors. Many pre-med students participate in clinical studies.

Ian Singley, who grew up in Mobile, is a biomedical sciences major who plans to attend medical school. His summer study is with a kinesiology professor studying bark extract used to reduce soreness and inflammation after exercise. Doing a SURF project was always part of his college plan.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a jumping off point where you can move on to more serious research,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 knew I wanted to do something from the get-go. The problem was finding a mentor and getting started, so COVID was a setback. I haven鈥檛 done much research, but I have done a lot of work in chemistry and biology labs, and now I can apply that in my project.鈥�

In recent years, as the Honors College has grown, there have been more social science and liberal arts projects in SURF.

Music students composing symphonies. English majors writing a series of poems. History students offering new perspectives.

This year, De鈥橝sia Aaron is doing an interdisciplinary project called 鈥淭he Liminal Spaces: Exploring the Historical Construction of Black Identity/Identities.鈥� The oral history project includes interviews with a range of people, including members of her own family in Gaston, Alabama. It was inspired by South classes in African American Studies.

Conducting interviews has been a learning experience.

鈥淚 have to work at it,鈥� Aaron said. 鈥淪ome days it鈥檚 easy, some days it鈥檚 like, 鈥榃hat am I doing?鈥� Sometimes your interviews give you more than you expect, and sometimes you get less. I want to get the rawest expression, the rawest feeling about everything.鈥�

Some of those feelings are personal, some of them are political, and some of them are in between.

 鈥淢aybe 40 percent is political 鈥� but what isn鈥檛 political, you know?鈥� she said. 鈥淓verything鈥檚 political.鈥�

Summer Scholarship 

SURF was launched in 1998 under a different name by the University Committee on Undergraduate Research and has expanded considerably since then. It offers experience to students who may not have considered a career in research.

Students are expected to devote 20 hours a week to their projects. They meet with other students and mentors on a regular basis. They present their work in a format considered appropriate by their discipline.

At the beginning of summer, students attend workshops on responsible conduct of research and organizing a project. At the end of summer, they share work with their peers.

 鈥淪ometimes it鈥檚 a life-changing experience for them,鈥� said Dr. Christy Wheeler West, associate professor of chemical engineering, who is program director for SURF. 鈥淭he next year they might be headed to graduate school for a doctoral degree.鈥�

Many summer students are from the Honors College, which requires members to write a graduate thesis. Interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. Academic communication is part of the fellowship experience.

鈥淭hey have to learn how to explain the importance of their project to people who are educated in another area,鈥� West said. 鈥淟ater, they get a chance to talk about how things are going. They learn that research isn鈥檛 always the smooth path you expect it to be. Things always go wrong in any discipline. So they get to commiserate about that.鈥�

Dr. Neil Schwarz, assistant professor of health, kinesiology and sport, has worked with a few SURF students. Singley met him through a former student

鈥淭hey track me down is what they do,鈥� Schwarz joked. 鈥淭his project is good because we had the funding, it was in motion, and doing the lab work, analyzing the blood, is something Ian was interested in.鈥�

That work includes sampling and testing hundreds of samples. A tedious process. Lab work is scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

鈥淚an鈥檚 learning that there鈥檚 lots of labeling, sorting and waiting,鈥� Schwarz said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not always as glamorous as it sounds.鈥�

Students in SURF

Singley isn鈥檛 complaining. His SURF stipend pays for gas and goes into his bank account. The research experience should help him get into medical school.

He grew up in Mobile and played football and baseball for the Cottage Hill Christian Academy. After graduation, he wanted to stay home, save money and attend the University of South Alabama.

鈥淏oth of my parents went here,鈥� Singley said. 鈥淚 was kind of born a Jag.鈥�

He learned about the SURF program and found a project. Workshops helped him describe his research to fellow students and mentors.

鈥淭hat kind of helped me get my nerves out,鈥� Singley said. 鈥淵ou develop your people skills. You learn to explain what you鈥檙e doing.鈥�

Seiler, the SURFer from Baton Rouge, is a meteorology student. She鈥檚 less interested in broadcasting than research. Growing up, even as a child, she was fascinated by the weather.

Hurricanes and tropical storms are part of her personal experience.

鈥淭he great flood of 2016 hit south Louisiana and it was amazing to see how sporadic it was,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e got about 18 inches of water in our house, but some of my friends got 9 feet.鈥�

For her SURF project, Seiler joined a sea breeze study by Dr. Sytske Kimball, meteorology professor and chair of the department of earth sciences. The first challenge of her summer? Manipulating data with the Python computer programming language.

鈥淭he most intensive part is trying to get the code working,鈥� Seiler said. 鈥淥nce we get that, everything else is OK.鈥�

She is working from Baton Rouge and driving to Mobile for workshops and meetings with Kimball. Her project offers a sneak peek at a life of writing and scholarship. She likes what she鈥檚 seen so far.

鈥淚t鈥檚 something I鈥檝e been enjoying, even the background reading,鈥� Seiler said. 鈥淚 could definitely see working on research for an actual career.鈥�

Aaron, a psychology major, plans on going to medical school, or working in public policy, or both.

Her SURF mentor is Dr. Martha Jane Brazy, an associate professor in history. Her black identity project was inspired by 鈥淲andering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots,鈥� a 2020 book by Morgan Jerkins.

鈥淚鈥檓 gathering accounts of people from all walks of life on their experiences in America,鈥� Aaron said. 鈥淭he hardest part is getting to that liminal space between identities and between perspectives.鈥�

Interviewing strangers is tricky. Interviewing family members is trickier. Her summer project has become personal.

鈥淚t means a great deal to me,鈥� Aaron said. 鈥淵ou have to realize that we鈥檙e not the same, we鈥檙e not thinking the same things. And their answers are true to who they are.鈥�

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