Twelve Purdue University Calumet students have been chosen to participate in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program’s 12th Annual Summer Research Internship Program (SRIP).
The McNair program, named after the second African-American to fly in space, uses scholarly research and related activities to help prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies.
Listed alphabetically by community of residence are the name, undergraduate major, research topic and mentor for each SRIP scholar:
Cedar Lake – Ryan Strode, History - General, Afro-Latin American: The Study of African Slavery in Latin American, Mentor - Professor Craig Hammond
Chicago – April Buckley, Chemistry, A New Synthesis of Ketones, Mentor - Professor Harold Pinnick.
Crown Point – William Obermeyer, Computer Science, Parallel Computing in Mathematical Investigations: Parallelizing PiHigh and Probabilistic Models for Research, Mentor - Professor John Coffey.
East Chicago – Michael Hernandez, Political Science, The Economic Impact of Illegal Immigration on Northwest Indiana, Mentor - Professor Kathleen Tobin; Yolanda Ruiz, Political Science, A Failed Criminal Justice System: A Study of Life After Prison and the Stigma Behind It, Mentor – Professor Richard Van Orman; Randall Washington, Sociology – General, Juvenile Delinquency: Why Are There More of Our Youth Being Incarcerated, Mentor – Professor Alan Spector.
Gary – Julianne Boulware, Psychology – General, Poverty and It’s Effects: Development and Academic Attainment, Mentor - Professor Gisele Casanova; DeeNoel Clayton, Computer Graphics, The Effects of Art Therapy on Depressed Youth, Mentor – Professor Lynda Fork-Kintz.
Hammond – Aurelio Bedolla, Accounting, The Truth About Corporate Financial Statements: Who’s Behind the Numbers, Mentor - Professor Edward Furticella; Jill Ranzy, History – General, African American, Native American and Anglo American Kinship and Community Ties, Mentor - Professor Wendy St. Jean.
Merrillville – Natalie G. Smith, Elementary Education, The Untapped Crisis of Urban/ Rural African American Female Dropouts, Mentor - Professor Cynthia Robinson.
Valparaiso – Kristina Nestorovski, Social Studies Teaching, Macedonian Immigration Post World War II: Changes in Patterns of Assimilation, Mentor - Professor Cezara Crisan.
The Summer Research Internship Program provides McNair scholars opportunities to develop and explore a research area related to their interests with guidance from a faculty member. The collaboration with faculty is intended to introduce students to the nature of graduate study, scholarly activity and research careers.
Students will present the results of their research at a banquet Sept. 5.
