The University of Iowa – Summer Research Opportunities Program – Part I

The University of Iowa offers the opportunity for first-generation college students and/or students from disadvantaged backgrounds/students who are historically underrepresented to take part in their annual Summer Research Opportunities Program (called SROP). Through the eight weeks of SROP, not only do the Scholars prepare for graduate school through GRE workshops and informational sessions on various aspects of graduate school, but they also enhance their academic and personal skills through engaging in a research project with a faculty mentor whose interests align with theirs. The Scholars also partake in volunteering and social events that augment their experiences while in Iowa City, Iowa. Students are challenged daily and are expected to uphold values of professionalism and integrity. Scholars are also expected to show respect and open-mindedness as they meet with other students from across the country. There is a great deal of work required of the Scholars, but there are many benefits to be reaped. All the hard work I put in was worth it, and Summer 2018 turned out to be one of the best summers of my entire life!

This blog post describes what I did in June.

---

WEEK ONE
DAY 1 – June 4th

After landing in the United States, I was back home in Cleveland for six hours before I had to depart for Cedar Rapids/Iowa City! During that short period, I did laundry and packed my suitcase as full as I could; I had to lean on it to zip it up. I appreciate my parents for going through this exhausting ordeal with me and taking me to the airport, the last time they’d see me again until eight weeks later. I flew from Cleveland to Atlanta to Cedar Rapids, arriving at my final destination at 11 am.

While most students came to campus on June 2 or June 3, I came on June 4th. I was the latest student and felt terrible for missing out on orientation and a welcome picnic. But I was thankful to be there! I checked into the residence hall, set my things down, and went right to lunch, as I was famished. I made a new friend immediately; at the elevator, she greeted me and talked with me. We had lunch together and also went with a few other students to the library, where we had a session at 1:30 pm.

A librarian introduced us to the University of Iowa library system. There’s seven libraries there on campus and planned to go to each of them. The librarian showed us how to find research databases and contact library staff members. This session was very helpful in orienting us and the resource guide she provided will be a resource for our research this summer.

Fun fact: For every pig in Iowa, there are two books at UI.

Then one of the two Graduate Assistants, Natalie, talked about professionalism and respect with us. We were expected to check emails regularly; it is not polite to ignore messages and we should respond within 24-48 hours. Afterwards, the SROP Scholars visited the gym and got a tour. I liked the facility and was impressed by the tall rock wall; it’s the tallest in the country for a college. We could purchase monthly or summer-semester memberships. (I passed on this chance, as I was unsure of my availability with my time spent between research, exploring Iowa, and studying for the GRE. I know that exercise is a vital part of maintaining good physical health, but because I perceived that I would be too busy, I did not work out at all.)

Right after that, we took our photo IDs! They are called HawkIDs and we use them to swipe into buildings for access. It’s similar to the BUCKID I use at The Ohio State University. I really like how I look in my photo.

We had the rest of the night to ourselves. Back in my dorm, I unpacked and rested before eating dinner with my roommate and other scholars. Everyone was very friendly and open to conversation! In my room, I wrote down deadlines into my planner. SROP provided each of us with a poster-size calendar of the program that we can hang on a wall. I had no tape or staples or thumbtacks so I kept this on my desk. SROP also gave us brand new GRE prep books and some booklets on Iowa City and the University of Iowa. I love reading, so all of these materials were great, and they helped me navigate campus and learn about recommended restaurants and places to visit. Then I reviewed the SROP syllabus to familiarize myself with our program’s schedule and the assignments. Here was how our schedule generally went:

Mondays – Aspects of Graduate School sessions (We had presentations about CV’s and personal statements, graduate student panels, and more)
Tuesdays – GRE Study Sessions (We were divided into two groups: Verbal or Quantitative; we switched subjects halfway through the summer)
Wednesdays – Question and Answer (Q&A) Discovery sessions
Thursdays – Research Seminars
Fridays – Speaker Seminars

DAY 2 – June 5th

I got breakfast with friends and walked the quick seven minutes to Seashore Hall, which houses the Departments of Sociology and Psychology. I would start research the next day but I learned the route to my building beforehand so I would not get lost.  I walked around campus by myself and went into the campus bookstore to browse the books. I then went to the Main Library to sit down and work on emails (and this blog!).

On Tuesday evenings, SROP Scholars attend GRE prep workshops. We were presented with the basics of the GRE and then took a practice set of Verbal and a practice set of Quantitative Reasoning. This activity frustrated me so much, because it was so much more difficult than the ACT and SAT; I excelled at the ACT back in high school, but the GRE’s challenge level surpassed the previous standardized tests that I took by a landslide. Nevertheless, I persisted and answered each question because guessing wrong does not lead to any penalties for my score. Feeling defeated, I went home to Burge. In my room, I conducted an online search for fun things to do in Iowa City and around campus; I compiled a bucket list of restaurants to check out and museums to visit.

Day 3 – June 6th
After breakfast, I met with Sean, the graduate student who is working on the project with my faculty mentor. My mentor is Sean’s advisor for his graduate studies in sociology. He introduced himself and explained how we would be coding for the majority of my research. I became acquainted with Dedoose, an accessible and extremely user-friendly computer app. I can use Dedoose on any laptop or desktop, so I can be anywhere to work on the research!

My faculty mentor is Jessica Welburn Paige, Assistant Professor of Sociology as well as African American Studies at The University of Iowa. Professor Welburn’s research revolves around studying race and ethnicity, social mobility, urban inequality, cultural sociology, and qualitative research methods. Here is more about her (retrieved from https://clas.uiowa.edu/sociology/people/jessica-welburn-paige) 

Her work has focused on the experiences of African Americans in the post-Civil Rights era, including how they conceptualize their social mobility prospects and their strategies for navigating persistent racism and discrimination. She is currently working on a book tentatively titled Keep on Pushin’ that uses in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations to explore how working class and middle class African Americans in Detroit, MI navigate the city’s crumbling infrastructure. In addition, Professor Welburn is working on a book manuscript co-authored with Michèle Lamont, Joshua Guetzkow, Hanna Herzog, Nissim Mizrachi, Elisa Reis and Graziella Silva. The book draws upon over 400 qualitative interviews to compare the destigmatization strategies of blacks in the United States, blacks in Brazil, and several groups — Ethiopian Jews, Mizrahi Jews and Palestinian Citizens of Israel — in Israel.

She is a Summer Research Scholar at the Public Policy Center, and she is collaborating with another Scholar there on a project titled “Housing Inequality in Iowa City: Examining the Experiences of Community Members and University Students,” which I am helping with during my eight weeks here. The project is community-based and mixed methods and the principal investigators are Megan Gilster, Assistant Professor of Social Work
~~~~~~~~
For this week, I am coding one student interview and understanding how to use Dedoose. The website provides plenty of video tutorials and written out explanations for me should I need support. Sean also provided me with a manila folder of packets of readings to help me gain background knowledge on housing insecurity, food insecurity, qualitative methods, coding, and reading scientific/academic journal articles.

Our evening seminar entailed working on our LinkedIn profiles and ensuring that we are presenting ourselves as well as we can on this professional social platform. I changed my introduction and edited some profile sections. As I become older and continue developing my professional career, I check my LinkedIn more regularly and I receive emails when there’s notifications for me.

Day 4 – June 7th
On this day, I worked on coding the interview and reading some assigned papers. In my planner, tasks are color-coded: red means research (look at databases, begin literature review), blue means doing readings, purple means meetings with Sean and/or Professor Welburn, and orange means coding using Dedoose.  Another proactive action I did was that I created an email signature for my University of Iowa email, and I downloaded the Microsoft Outlook app on my phone to make sure I could read emails quickly.

The SROP seminar was one of my favorite seminars thus far; it was about intercultural sensitivity and our various identities. Because of this, I learned more about my peers, and it helped make me feel less nervous.

Day 5 – June 8th
On Fridays, I meet with Professor Welburn for up to 45 minutes before I dash to the seminar at 4 pm.
Our speaker, Dr. Darrel Wanzer-Serrano, presented his research on the Young Lords, a group of mostly Puerto Rican youth activists. Many of them were second-generation Americans, so they were born in America and had immigrant parents. This group was dedicated to raising awareness for injustices in their communities in New York. They worked for positive change in their community health, environmental, and political needs. Through rallies, speeches, political education, and messages on the radio and in newspapers, the Young Lords made academic and physical impacts; they once were able to mobilize 10,000 people. They were able to get lead and TB testing programs, the first door-to-door program in the country. They also got meals to people in need. However, in the 1970s, they changed their group’s name, which hurt them deeply. They also stopped doing community work and shut down their clinics.

After dinner, about half of the scholars met up to go to the Coral Ridge Mall. On Thursdays and Fridays, the bus to the mall is free for UI students; with our HawkIDs, we were able to take advantage of this opportunity! The ride was about 20-30 minutes. When we reached the mall, we split up. I tried Zombie burgers and side of fries and loved the taste of it; the sauce was some mixture of mayo and ketchup. On the bus ride to and from the mall, I was able to talk to my peers and learn more about them. One scholar’s parents both attended The Ohio State University (my home institution) for their master’s degrees! Late at night, I looked up resources to make a GRE study schedule for myself. My plan was to spend 1-2 hours each weekday doing GRE prep, and then 6-10 hours over the weekends.
(Resource: https://gre.magoosh.com/study-plans)

WEEKEND
On Saturday morning, we all took a GRE diagnostic test (a Pre-Test) to gauge where we all were for quantitative and verbal strengths. This was my first time taking the entire GRE exam, minus the essays at the beginning. When we were done, we printed our scores and handed them to the SROP staff. I do not remember what I did the rest of the day, or the rest of the weekend, but I believe I was in my room working on blog posts relating to my study abroad, and the lengthy PowerPoint slideshow for my study abroad travels. 

WEEK TWO

June 11th
I researched more about the GRE; I plan to take it in mid-August because I am applying to a Combined Bachelors and Masters program at my school and this requires me to take the GRE before my application is due on December 1. Taking the GRE before the school year begins seems optimal for me because my mind will mostly be occupied by the test; if I take the test later on when classes are in session, I would feel more stressed.

Our evening session was about choosing a graduate school. The first step in this process often involves developing a list of criteria and assigning weight to each criteria. Some criteria to keep in mind when looking at programs include regional/geographic location, professor-to-student ratio, costs, financial aid/assistance, support and resources, faculty mentors, program reputation, duration of program, and physical facilities.

For me, I preferred a graduate school program in the Midwest, close to home. Ohio is all that I have known, and although it’s suggested to venture out and get a change of scenery, I believe in blooming where I am planted, and continuing to develop relationships with the people I have met in Columbus. I knew that at Ohio State, I’d benefit from the robust financial aid and my strong support system.

June 12th
This day was spent doing readings and coding another interview. I had a meeting with Ms. Diana Sproles, the director of SROP.

I was placed in the Quantitative group for the first half of the GRE study sessions; this placement was commensurate with my low quantitative score on the diagnostic GRE exam (I was somewhere in the 40th percentile, and was not too disappointed, taking into account that my last math course was Calculus in the twelfth grade and it had been a few years.) This session was challenging and engaging; we began it with a 10 minute quiz, which I was not expecting. The instructors are very passionate and present; they ask students about our reasonings behind approaching a problem. I felt like I was really learning (well, relearning math concepts I had learned back in high school.) After the session, I worked on our math quiz; we get a math quiz each week to practice our knowledge.

June 13th
On Wednesday mornings, I meet with Sean in Seashore; we go over coding and we strive to achieve intercoder reliability. I also have the space to ask him questions about graduate school. After lunch, I met with Mr. Joseph Henry, who I call Joe. He is in charge of Recruitment and Outreach for SROP. He asked me questions about myself, my passions, and my academic interests, as well as what I hoped to gain from SROP.

After dinner, we attended a session on “Life as a Faculty Member” and met six faculty members from various disciplines.

June 14th
In the late afternoon, we had a presentation on Research Collaboration, from two graduate students. One was pursuing a degree in Political Science, specifically racial and ethnic politics, and the other was in Geography, studying hazards. The PoliSci student told us how during undergrad, she went to Mexico to conduct research, funded by the National Science Foundation. She studied conflict and peace management. While she was rejected the first time she applied for NSF, she applied again and was waitlisted before eventually being accepted. Everyone applying is heavily and highly qualified; your proposed project should meet what the funders are looking for. When it comes to collaboration, she suggested that we make sure we are accountable to ourselves, and that our collaborators are also accountable to you. She also said to not be afraid to ask for help and help others on social media.

The geography grad student explained how he studies the social vulnerability to natural hazards. He taught us some types of collaboration, in his words:
1) Vertical – you are given a job and you fill the part
2) Horizontal – the collaborating sides have similar interests, and work together but still in their own silos
3) Integrative/interdisciplinary – this is the hardest collaboration

After the session, everyone in SROP, including the staff, took a group photo! Pictured are Ms. Sproles, Joe, and Sunny. Natalie is not pictured. People also had professional headshots taken.

June 15th
After breakfast, I conducted an informational interview with a faculty member here so I could learn more about public health and her own experiences. It was a great conversation! Then I had lunch at Bluebird Diner with my faculty mentor, Professor Welburn. We discussed the research project we were working on and also Iowa City and life in general.

I worked more on an assignment on my laptop before I went to the Speaker Series session that afternoon. The session was about “Attention: The Mind’s Bouncer”, presented by a professor in the Psychological and Brain Sciences. I learned new terms like “target templates,” which guide our attention to things relevant to the item we are searching for; if we were locating some ketchup, our eyes would look for things that are red, in a bottle-shape, and relatively big. There is visual, manual, and cognitive attention. The speaker gave us some tips for the GRE and school. When reading a book or writing, preview it, and think about what the writing is about. Then summarize it. Next, evaluate it; is this writing true, in whole or in part? Sometimes I will read something and then by the time I have finished with the excerpt or the chapter, I fail to recall what I read.

The weekend was very fun. On Saturday, my friends and I went to Iowa City’s Pride Festival! I was pleasantly surprised that the festival was the 48th celebration of LGBTQ+ people in the community. With my friends, I witnessed the parade procession that began at noon. People on parade floats and bikers and walkers waved to the onlookers and passed out items such as condoms, health and beauty products from P&G companies, and candy. This day had blistering heat. In close-to-100-degree weather, my friends and I constantly quenched our thirst with water.

That night, I turned in my assignment: Introduction to your Discipline. This paper briefly covered when and how public health became a recognized profession; career options in public health; best schools and companies for public health professionals; current issues and new developments; major journals and publications; and how I see myself in the future in this discipline.

WEEK THREE

June 18th –
I read more interviews as part of my research during the day. Our session was about searching for internal and external funding for graduate school. I took notes on some funding opportunities that could pertain to me; one in particular was the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, for which first-generation and second-generation Americans are eligible. Later, I discovered I could not apply because I am pursuing a combined/joint degree.

When I think about graduate school, I am very concerned about how I will fully fund my education. In addition to being a full-time student, how would I cover living expenses? Financial aid stays on my mind as a potential barrier for me in completing my Master degree. Nevertheless, I will be proactive and persistent, and apply for both small and big funding, and look into both internal and external sources.
Helpful Hint: The 1-year-rule: The deadline for scholarships and fellowships is usually a year BEFORE you need the funding

June 19th –
I attended my GRE Quantitative Reasoning session. The session starts with a 10 minute quiz and then we review the answers. The instructors ask the scholars to explain how we arrived at a solution. It was always challenging but I was able to reinforce mathematical concepts and learn how to think smart, and not to think hard.

June 20th –
The evening session was about “Integrating Scholarship & Service,” presented by a graduate student in Education. Service during college should be done consistently, and not in spurts of activity, but one or a few activities that are sustained for years at a time. The presenter also mentioned how service trips could be problematic because the impact could be temporary, and possibly even detrimental to communities. This prompted me to consider how my alternative break trips were impacting the communities we visited, and if we were doing more harm than good.

June 21st –
After eating dinner together, the Scholars were transported by Ms. Diana, Sunny, and Natalie to Sycamore Mall Cinema to watch movies! This counted as a mandatory group social outing; we could choose to watch Incredibles II or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. While SROP provided transportation to and from the movies, we each had to pay for our own tickets. Thankfully, Thursdays are discount days for students. We paid $6.00 admission and popcorn was free for us! What a deal! This mandatory movie night soothed my soul as I was waiting for 14 years between the first Incredible movie and its sequel. I was immensely impressed by the film and the Pixar short, Bao, that preceded it. We had a conversation during the car ride back to our dorm about Bao and culture.

June 22nd –
Our presenter for the day was a professor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering department. His presentation “Water Quality and Public Health” began with a photo of John Snow, the father of epidemiology. He talked about public health and how his work in engineering would help improve public health in Iowa City. I was happy that we had a speaker mention the field I’m pursuing! I learned that the University of Iowa uses the Iowa river for their drinking water. There is a water treatment plant on campus that tests and treats the water. One of my fellow Scholars is the mentee for this professor, and she talked with animosity when she told us how she would actually go down to the river and collect samples for the lab! We regulate and treat water for a few purposes: for human and ecological health, for aesthetic purposes (cloudy water can still be clean, but people may not drink because of perceived impurities), and for economic purposes (acidic, corrosive water erodes pipes and the costs add up). This was another lecture that I really enjoyed. Furthermore, I already knew some of the information presented. I still took two pages of notes because there was a wealth of information that I did not know beforehand.

After dinner, I put on a long-sleeve shirt because I was going to visit a pet store. Two friends and I took a Lyft to PetLand at Sycamore Mall, just a couple miles away, for some pet therapy. Interacting with animals is soothing to many people. I love seeing fluffy animals who are just as excited to see you as you are to see them! I loved the bunnies and puppies the best. All the kittens had been bought, but there were still plenty of pets to be played with and sent off to good homes: ferrets, parakeets, guinea pigs, rats, reptiles, and fish. My friends and I spent an hour or so here. My favorite dog we spent time with was a Shiba inu puppy who was female. We looked up a Japanese name for her, and found that Haru seemed fitting. Haru means spring, and to me, it fits the puppy because when I think of spring, I think of flowers blooming and happiness in general. Spring means new beginnings, and this puppy was just starting her life. It was such a pleasant experience and I was relieved to get away from campus and to see animals. This excursion contributed to my self-care.

WEEKEND –
On Saturday, after a day of doing homework, with an hour-long nap in between, my friends and I went to Iowa City’s Downtown Block Party. This second annual block party involved many constituents. There were a plethora of games, including giant Jenga, Four Square, mini golf, and sand volleyball. We spent an hour outside exploring what the party had to offer; we returned to the dorm dining hall for dinner before we explored more of the party. Many of the Scholars attended the party. I enjoyed playing Four Square; it was my first time playing this game. We went to the public library to sign up for the Mario Kart tournament; there were many youth signed up to play the game, so after almost an hour of waiting, most of my friend group left the library. One or two stayed behind to actually play the game. After reuniting with some friends at Blaze Pizza, we walked around downtown some more. However, the streets were getting more crowded and the night was getting darker. We went back to Burge. That night, we had our usual Hallway Hours, where we hang out in the hallway and chat about anything. It is nice to unwind at the end of a long day by discussing life matters with your friends.

On Sunday, I took a full practice GRE test using the Kaplan website. The downside of this was that I was in a coffee shop and music played nonstop. This was not an ideal environment in which to take a test. While I improved by seven points in quantitative reasoning, I dropped around twenty points in verbal, which was an extreme shock to me. Verbal should have come easily to me. After eating lunch, I reviewed my answers and looked at the explanations for the problems that I got wrong. I learned what I did incorrectly and how to correctly approach problems. After dinner, my friends and I played Betrayal at the House on the Hill, my new favorite board game. We played in one of the lounges on the floor. We went through two rounds of the game before we returned to our respective rooms to sleep and recharge for another eventful week.

WEEK FOUR

June 25th –
I spent most of the day working on my research and reviewing the interviews that I already had coded After lunch, I continued my review of past interviews in order to find themes and analyze the findings. Research is a continuous process and even if I code an interview, revisions often occur. The seminar for the day was about curriculum vitaes (CVs) and crafting statements of purpose, presented by a Ph.D. student in the Communications department. This session was very helpful for me as I learned how to write effective CVs and statements.

Some helpful advice this grad student gave was to reach out to potential faculty that I would want to work with, and email them to get to know them and ask if they are taking on new advisees for the year I plan to enter grad school. I should communicate with this faculty member multiple times to determine if the relationship as advisor and advisee would be compatible. Additionally, the CV tips were the most helpful because I had never made a CV prior to SROP.

Some CV tips:

– No bullet points. Those are for resumes.
– CVs and personal statements should match in terms of content, fonts used, etc.
– CVs should include headings like name & contact details; education; experiences; extracurricular activities; awards and honors; conference presentations, etc. 
– CVs get longer and longer throughout a person’s undergraduate, graduate, and professional careers.
– Keep them black and white, unless in the graphic design field.

After the session, one of the graduate assistants Natalie returned our “Introduction to Your Discipline” assignments to us. She commented that I had a “Nice Paper!”

After dinner, my friends and I visited the Van Allen observatory, which is on top of the physics and astronomy building.

We also played the haunted house board game again, and I appreciated getting to bond some more with my friends.

June 26th –
I had no scheduled meetings but continued reviewing interview transcripts. I also viewed additional data from the college students; this data consisted of questionnaire answers, and it provided me with a better understanding of the subjects. Some questions pertained to health, such as exposure to radon in the home, and safety. My research question would most likely relate to health and housing; I still only had a vague idea of my topic and research question. I came up with a research question for the time being, and would refine this question through my research. That evening, the Scholars attended our GRE sessions, and I went to my last Quantitative session. The next time we meet, I would attend my Verbal session for tutoring.

June 27th –
Our session was solely on personal statements, and was presented by the Writing Center. Our personal statement should not be our whole life story condensed onto one to two pages, but it should reflect a couple parts of our lives that we want to highlight. To jumpstart our brainstorming, we were asked to describe ourselves using adjectives, and I think I chose “Persistent.” The Writing Center presenter showed us some samples of introductory paragraphs, and we voted which statements were the most compelling and intriguing. There is no one correct writing style; each person writes differently, so naturally we disagreed on which statement made us want to read more. These statements also gave me some insight into how to start my own statement, whether through a shocking one-liner or through immersing the reader into a scenario from the past.

Some tips I took away from this session:
– Use simple and elegant prose.
– Do not make sentence structures complicated.
– Read your writing out loud to catch more mistakes or clunky sentences.
– Read many examples of statements, but be sure to not plagiarize!
– Avoid generic statements such as “I just want to help people.”
– Do not use “I believe” or “I think.” These just take up more space and are not necessary.

June 28th –
The Scholars learned about ethics and research integrity, from a staff member from the Human Subjects Office. Even though we all did CITI training online before we even arrived on campus, we refreshed our memories of how to be ethical researchers.

June 29th –
At this session, we had a professor speak on the Art of Black Students for the first half, and a professor discuss her work with marginalized students in education for the latter half. The first professor asked which scholars attended schools with African-American studies or Black studies programs? Only about six of the 24 of us had African-American studies programs at our institutions, whereas none of us had something called Black studies. I was unsure of the distinction between the two. This professor’s dissertation had been on defining Black studies; programs dedicated to this area of study began in 1968. During class, we read a poem called “For My People” by Margaret Walker; the poem was one piece of a book she wrote for a Master’s thesis. She was the first African-American woman to earn her MFA in Writing. This was a powerful poem and encouraged me to read more of her work in the future.

The second half of the session, a professor presented “People, Place, and Policy: Examining Access to Opportunity for Marginalized Students,” and this was a lecture that I particularly enjoyed because of my interest in education and my experiences in education as a marginalized student myself. She talked about school choice, school testing, desegregation, discipline, health policy, standards-based accountability, and immigration. A startling statistic she shared was that 400 school districts are still under desegregation orders, in 2018! This equates to over a thousand schools, the majority of which are in the South. This impressive woman is working on seven studies; one of them is about the intersection of education and immigration policies, and this is very important in order to accommodate and meet the needs of immigrant and refugee students. This professor also suggested we find “academic crushes,” people in our fields who we look up to, and see how they got to where they are. She also said that we do not need to plot out our entire life!

WEEKEND –
The Saturday morning involved some physical exertion. We had our first volunteering event, and it was with Habitat for Humanity! Half of the Scholars had a shift in the morning, and the other half had an afternoon shift. It was hot and sunny that day, but thankfully my partner and I were on the area of a roof where we were underneath some shade. This was my first time working on a home; this house will eventually go to a family of five: a couple with three high-school or middle-school aged children.

Part Two of this blog segment will be posted shortly. (It was intended to be posted at the end of July, but I did not have the time to work on either Part One or Part II this summer.) I apologize to all my readers for this extended hiatus!