Undergraduate Research Opportunity Center
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Working from home is a challenge many of us have come to know all too well. And now that we know we will most likely be working remotely through the rest of the school year, we wondered how our students were adjusting to class at home. One of the most important factors affecting productivity in this virtual environment is the space in which you are attempting do work. So we caught up with some of our students to see how they have adjusted their space.
We encourage all of our students, if possible, to designate a place that can be regularly used for school work.
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Wendy Feng
Environmental Science,
UROC McNair Scholar
"I like having plants in my workspace to liven up the room. I love talking to my professors on Zoom because it makes me feel part of the class. I try to take breaks whenever I can away from technology because many hours online is overwhelming."
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Cameron Battersby,
Psychology,
UROC Scholar
"Working on research and coursework for 8+ hours in a chair has also been challenging for my mind, body, and soul, however, as a UROC Scholar I have learned to be as productive as possible with the tools I have been given."
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Silvia Vasquez, Molecular Biology & Chemistry Minor,
UROC McNair Scholar
"During quarantine I have been working on staying organized and finding a quiet place to focus. Now that we have started virtual learning, it is important for me to feel comfortable. I've created a small study area in my living room that has helped me do just that."
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Sarah Monroe-Kennedy
Marine Science,
UROC Researcher
"Switching from in-person to online courses has been a huge adjustment for me. I do well with the structure of attending class, so to mimic this, I've created an area that is only for doing my classwork and research, separating my school life from my personal life. I've found this helps me focus on my work, and at the end of the day when I step away, I can properly relax."
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Maria Rocha
Marine Science,
UROC McNair Scholar
"Virtual learning has made it difficult to focus and learn the material, but I am putting an effort to get the best out of my current courses. Luckily, I have my puppy Scooby who has a lot of energy and gets me out of my quarantine classroom and out in nature every day reminding me to always make time for myself and take breaks."
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The Students Have Become the Teachers! |
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Learning and teaching in the virtual environment is a new challenge for many. Some of our Scholars have taken on both teacher and student roles as they serve as teaching assistants and tutors for classes in their departments while taking classes. Here are some of their thoughts about being on both sides of distance learning. |
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"Learning in the virtual environment can be stressful but I have learned first-hand the intensity that comes with teaching in the virtual environment. My respect for teachers has increased tenfold after beginning my TAship with Dr. Nathaniel Jue in his Practical Computing for Scientists course. The level of technical proficiency and creativity required to make zoom classes run smoothly is staggering and I am happy that I get to provide support to someone who has always supported me. From bad wifi connections, to aging hardware, to learning the ins and out of new virtual platforms, the problems faced by our instructors seems never-ending. I'm inspired by, and grateful for, their determination and commitment to our education and success."
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"Being both a student and tutor during this virtual experience has been both challenging and rewarding. Along with facing the usual virtual hardships, tutoring in an online environment has brought a new set of challenges. Lower attendance, less in-session participation has made the tutoring experience difficult. Luckily, I have also had many positive experiences tutoring that bring me back to a time before this virtual world. These experiences, although not as common as before the pandemic, remind me that there we will overcome this. All the challenges being both a student and tutor bring can be taxing, but the rewards from it help keep me going." Matt is a tutor both STAT 100: Introductory Statistics and CALC 150: Calculus 1.
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"For me, virtual education has been a mixed experience. Being a student and being a tutor present different yet similar challenges. As a student, I am taking two courses that meet virtually and one that does not meet at all. I enjoy the structure that comes with meeting synchronously but I also really appreciate the flexibility not meeting brings. As a tutor, I do both synchronous and asynchronous work; from this perspective, I can see that burnout in students is more noticeable. I feel like because everyone knows we are online, there is pressure to respond to requests more quickly than when school was not virtual. With both roles, student and tutor, I find my motivation to be noticeably lower than when we were in person."
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"The transition to a virtual environment has been shocking and ungraceful for all involved in education, from students to teachers and facilitators. Acclimating to an online lifestyle has been a dually formidable task for me, as both a student and teaching assistant for genetics and practical computing. Through my experience on both sides of the zoom controls, I have found that two of the most invaluable resources available to all of us embarking upon this adventure in virtual learning are an open mind and a supportive community. While our current situation may seem unwieldy, I have learned not to underestimate the creativity of myself and those around me who strive to make distanced learning as effective as possible. I have also found that the importance of collaborating with your peers and taking the time to check in with members of your online community cannot be stressed enough. In a world that seems to grow bleaker by the day, the communication and grace that we extend to one another serve to bring some sense of normalcy to this awkward learning environment."
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Jada Carter
Biology Major & Chemistry Minor
UROC McNair Scholar
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Matthew Dunham
Statistics Major & Psychology Minor
UROC Scholar
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Sebastian Mireles
Humanities & Communication Major
UROC McNair Scholar
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Samantha Miller
Biology Major
UROC Scholar
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The Professor's Corner
featuring Dr. Angie Tran
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Mentoring Xenia has been a gift that keeps on giving! Now in week 3 of the Fall 2020 semester, we all have had to adjust to a new reality with online classes, and the mentoring is also online. But the conversations about her research continue seamlessly, at formal appointments and during the little time we have had right after the class sessions that she is taking with me. These classes themselves provide the global labor perspectives to broaden Xenia’s transnational guest workers framework. I can see that Xenia absorbs new knowledge like a “sponge” but she uses acquired knowledge actively to frame her own thoughts and interpretations. The beautiful thing about this mentorship is that we’ve exchanged knowledge and updated each other on the latest news articles that have anything to do with farm guest workers!
Here is a little bit of context. Dr. Covarrubias and I have started to work with Xenia in Spring 2020 on the project that we ourselves have embarked on: the precarity and agency of the H-2A guest workers who come from Mexico to work in the fields of California on short-term contracts to harvest our fruits and vegetables. It has been gratifying to see the transformation of Xenia from a shy and devoted (straight As) student to a confident and fully committed student researcher who has been very eager to learn transdisciplinary theoretical frameworks (political economy, anthropology, sociology) and methodological approaches and apply them to her own research on this topic. Through her classes in SBGS, she has been absorbing new theoretical knowledge to understand systemic exploitation, intersectional analysis (race/class/gender) and actively participating in engaged ethnography, using various methods to collect data, including interviewing the informants.
Working closely with her through the 2020 summer, I was also impressed to see that Xenia is never deterred by the constraints caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, she has been proactive in reaching out to some H-2A workers using social media and smartphones to interview these workers and follow up with them closely. I am gratified to see Xenia grow by leaps and bounds, dedicated to her research topic, not as an abstract intellectual exercise, but as a personal project with a clear conviction: to have a deep understanding of these workers’ precarious conditions and their agency to find avenues to improve their working and living conditions.
Dr. Angie Tran is a Professor for the School of Social, Behavioral & Global Studies
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Campus Resources & Virtual Workshops |
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Sept 21-Oct 12 from 4-5pm
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Sat. October 3rd 10am-1:30pm
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CSU Research Competition Information Session
Nov 10th from 2-3pm
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Udall Scholarship Information Session
Nov 13 from 11am-12pm
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Finding Summer Research Opportunities
Nov 19 from 3-4pm
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MBARI Summer Internship Info Session
Dec 2, 1-2pm
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Programs and professional development resources for current and prospective undergraduate students -- research experiences for undergraduates (REU), scholarships, and travel and research opportunities.
Although it may seem early, fellowship deadlines are right around the corner - with many deadlines in October and early November for funding for the 2021/2022 academic year. Below are links to our database of STEM funding opportunities.
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Stay up to date with everything UROC by following us Instagram!! |
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Chat with us!
Want to get involved in research but don't know where to start? Set up a virtual consultation on the UROC website!
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