• Academic Resource Center

• Honoraries

• Honors

• Investigative Studies

• Volunteer

• Writing Center

• Mission Statement
• Summer Fellowships Program
• Supplies Grants Program
• Travel Fellowships Program
• Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Committee Forms

• Travel Fellowships Application
  (Word Document)
• Summer Fellowships Application
  (Word Document)
• Supplies Grant Application
  (Word Document)
• Summer Faculty Mentor Form
  (Word Document)
• Summer Faculty Reference Form
  (Word Document)
• All Scholars Day Abstract Instructions
  (PDF)

Investigative Studies: Summer Fellowships Program

Congratulations to the 2010 Summer Fellows

• Paul Dent will study ligand isomerization with potential applications to drug delivery systems. These systems could potentially be used to kill cancer cells. Paul's project is part of a larger research project being conducted by Marietta College's Chemistry Department. His faculty mentor is Dr. James Jeitler.
• Olivia Wilson plans to work with a summer high school musical theater program performing Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. She will work with a staff of professional directors and musicians and work as the vocal coach for the program. As vocal coach, Olivia will ensure that the principals and other soloists of the show are using proper and healthy vocal techniques and will assist them in making technique choices that support the director’s vision of the musical. She will also serve as assistant music director of the production, including work with the cast and pit orchestra. Olivia's faculty mentor is Dr. Daniel Monek.
• Erica Martin plans to conduct research to determine whether there are characteristic chromosomal abnormalities associated with B16 melanoma cells. B16 melanoma is a form of malignant melanoma found only in mice used in research of malignant melanoma in humans. A better understanding of the chromosomal aberrations associated with B16 melanoma could provide insight into the mechanisms of cellular mutation which prove devastating to the inflicted organism. An investigation of the chromosomal abnormalities present in B16 melanoma cells could lead to a better understanding of the causes, effects, and possible treatments for malignant melanoma in humans. Erica's faculty mentor is Dr. Steven Spilatro.
• Jake Verdoorn and Kyle Yoho are planning a joint research project to study the life of Edward Bosworth Manley (Marietta College class of 1926). Manley was a pioneer in the field of radio technology. While at Marietta, Manley was the founder of the Marietta College radio station WCMO. He is known for testing the limits of what communication through radio waves could accomplish and received national acclaim for gathering radio signals from every time zone. Manley also became the first operator to stream vocal contact from the Arctic Circle over radio. Jake and Kyle will be working in the Marietta College Special Collections archives under the guidance of Linda Showalter, Director of Special Collections. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Matthew Young.

These students will present their research at the annual Investigative Studies Fall Symposium

 

• Summer Fellowships student application form (Microsoft Word format)
• Summer Fellowships faculty mentor application form (Microsoft Word format)
• Summer Fellowships faculty reference application form (Microsoft Word format)

 

Wondering what to do next summer? You could get paid to think!

Marietta College’s original charter in 1835 calls for instruction in "all the useful branches of knowledge." Investigative Studies attracts our students who have the deepest interest in actually growing those branches, and not just sitting in their shade.

The program funds projects across the disciplines, and is aimed at the kind of student interested not only in learning knowledge, but also in discovering and creating it.

The goal of the student Summer Fellowship Program is to encourage undergraduate student-faculty collaboration in investigative studies. Students in any discipline with at least a cumulative 3.0 GPA are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. Summer Fellowships are designed to support students for a six-week period, so students may work with a faculty member on a project of mutual interest. These students pursue their research and creative projects under the mentoring of Marietta College faculty. Students doing these projects, generally sophomores, juniors or seniors, apply for funding. Funding is competitive, and students are expected to write coherent proposals that make a strong case for their projects. Summer Fellowship recipients receive a taxable $2,250 stipend plus six weeks of campus housing (generally during May and June) or a $500 housing allowance for off-site projects. Students are responsible for their own meals and other living expenses.

The program is open to all undergraduate full-time students who are pre-registered at Marietta College for the fall semester. Student application proposals will be evaluated on a competitive basis by members of the Honors & Investigative Studies Committee. While the quality of the projects is the most important criterion for funding, projects that have a strong chance of resulting in a publication, performance, or professional presentation will receive higher rankings by the Committee.

The track record of our graduates who choose to do Investigative Studies projects is extraordinary, including meaningful and remunerative employment following graduation or admittance to some of the country’s finest graduate school programs. In recent years, the Summer Fellowships Program supported projects such as:

• Historical investigation of the paintings held in the collection of the Campus Martius museum, Marietta, Ohio.
• The composition and subsequent performance of a five-song cycle for women's chorus.
• An examination of the effectiveness of visual, auditory, and tactile strategies in letter recognition and phonemic awareness growth of early readers.
• A study of the antimicrobial properties of leech (Hirudo medicinalis) saliva.
• An investigation of simulated families at a maximum-security women's prison in West Virginia.
• An exploration of the influence of the Pentecostal religious movement on practices in the celebration of Catholic masses in Costa Rica.
• The creation of a visual arts summer camp for at-risk children and a subsequent show of the children's art work.
• A study of the critical and rhetorical tradition in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.