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Undergraduate
Research (FURI) - Shannon Lavoie • Study Abroad - Crystal Place • Co-op Award Winners • Student Group Spotlight - NUTV |
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2004 • Online Profiles Launched • Fellowship and Scholarship Recipients |
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Vol
2 Issue I Spring 2005Undergraduate
Research (FURI)
Shannon Lavoie
Psychology / Sociology minor - 2006
Northeastern University offers many unique, enriching experiences in which students are able to participate. For years, NU has been widely recognized for the Cooperative Education it offers its students, but recently some of it’s members have been supplementing this experience with that of undergraduate research. With graduate school becoming so competitive, especially in my field of psychology, it becomes a necessity to be able to distinguish yourself from others. Undergraduate research allows a student to do just that. I recently had the distinctive pleasure of being chosen to participate in a program known as the Faculty Undergraduate Research Initiative, or FURI. FURI is a program that allows a student and a faculty member to be paired up in order to complete a research project within their field. This has been one of the most rewarding activities of my undergraduate career. It has allowed me to supplement my class work with an in-depth research project related to my field of study.
I had the pleasure of completing my first FURI project with Professor Arnold Arluke. Professor Arluke is a prominent member in the field of Sociology, one who has studied subjects throughout the world and has frequently been published. Together, we explored the connection between animal characters in classrooms and the correlation of aggressive / non-aggressive behavior of children. For the first time, I was able to help formulate a research project from the very beginning and see it though to the very end. It’s impossible to understand how involved research can be until participating in a program such as this. It allowed me to gain a view that no lab or class has been able to provide. I felt the experience had been so beneficial that I soon applied for another FURI position. This time I became interested in a project that was under the supervision of Professor Samantha Friedman. We completed a comprehensive study of integration patterns of racial groups throughout the United States. It allowed me to learn a great deal about a topic that I had never had the opportunity to become very familiar with.
At times, these projects proved to be quite overwhelming. Taking on an additional research project, while carrying a full load of classes, turned out to be a challenge. As the deadlines for the professor approaches, their demand upon the research assistant intensifies. There were times when I’d attend my weekly meeting and receive hours of data entry to be completed by the end of the week. At one point, I was given a list of twenty-nine research articles to look up and photo copy at the library. My next few days were spent searching through stacks and stacks of research materials and sociological journals. At the beginning, time management had to be extremely organized however, as time went on, things became easier. Now when doing research for my classes, nothing seems quite so overwhelming.
After completing two semesters of undergraduate research, my course of education has become more defined. I have had the satisfaction of forming a strong and undoubtedly beneficial connection with two prominent members or my field of study. This program has also provided me with the insight needed to determine my future goals of graduate school. It helped me to realize that research is something that is of great interest to me. When accepting my first position as a FURI Fellow, I had no idea how much this project would influence my future undertakings at NU, and inevitably, my future as a graduate student. My FURI mentors have begun helping me look into future college opportunities and promise to support me throughout the endeavor. It has, without a doubt, helped to further my education in ways that classes alone could never hope to do.
Study
Abroad
Crystal Place
Communication Studies / Public Communication
concentration - 2005
by Dawn Anderson, Associate Director
of NU’s study abroad program
Study abroad and recent NU alumna Crystal Place recently achieved something that was almost unheard. She was just hired as an Assistant Broadcast Producer at one of the top advertising agencies in the world. This is an extremely competitive market and she was warned by everyone she met that when entering the field she must “work her way up”. To obtain her dream position she must work for approximately 2-4 years to find herself in such a coveted spot at a place like Arnold Worldwide. If she were lucky, she would shave sometime off by obtaining an internship there and networking, but Crystal, after seeking an internship for this company every semester at NU, found no success. She was told to do informational interviews several times by advisors and others, but did not think they would be as helpful and necessary as she later found them to be.
While still wanting to break into her field, Crystal decided to spend one of her last NU semesters studying in Australia. While broadening her horizons and following her passion for travel, she satisfied some of her outstanding major and core NU credits and degree requirements. Her dream to be a broadcast producer wasn’t put on hold but rather was prioritized in with her study abroad aspirations. While abroad, Crystal remained in contact with each and every person she met throughout her time working in co-ops and internships. She sent e-mails and postcards, keeping the networking fresh while on the other side of the world. Upon return, she found that her shared experiences fostered closer friendships with the colleagues she had left, and gave her something in common with some very important new ones. Crystal continued to make friends abroad at the university where she lived and during her backpacking travels in Australia and New Zealand, and was able to utilize her new networking skills to remain in contact with them as well. She credits a love for people, neurotic organization, and a ‘very detailed excel sheet’ for her ability to keep these contacts fresh. The most important lesson she says she learned is that ‘almost everyone is willing to help you, and go above and beyond to do it, if you are willing to help yourself in the same manner.’
I would love to give credit to her study abroad experience, for helping Crystal to expand her thinking and approach to the job hunt, but Crystal from the very beginning, demonstrated a persistent and tenacious spirit that I’m almost sure landed her the job. Among the many pieces of advice Crystal sought when trying to gain an edge over other graduates seeking entry into the Communications field, was the suggestion to do as many informational interviews as possible. Crystal, in the end, did 39! Two of those interviews were with employees that studied abroad in Australia, which contributed to building an instant rapport with those people and made them remember her as well. She was even able to get to know them on a much more personal level by asking about what their experiences were like abroad. They were able to have a few laughs together, and when a position opened just a week or so later, Crystal was who they thought of. Skipping the dreaded HR process and the ‘working up for 2-4 years,’ Crystal became the new addition to the great production team she had met in her very intense informational interview process. She says that if she could speak to her ’18 year old self’ or give any advice to those interested in the field of advertising or Communications in general, it would be to do at least one informational interview per month throughout their entire time at Northeastern, even when they study abroad. She more than encourages studying abroad and not fixating on their ultimate career goal; in her eyes and experience, it is a process that will come full circle with a little bit of dedication, organization and some well-rounded new and fun experiences.
Congratulations to Crystal, study abroad alumna, Bond University Spring 2004 and Northeastern University College of Arts and Sciences alumna, January 2005!
Co-op
Award Winners
Sarah Hamilton
Political Science and English – 2005
