Feature Story

A broad program encourages Rutgers students to participate in research projects with faculty mentors

"The Aresty research program is an excellent way to discover the in's and out's of the research process. Moreover, the level of respect that the Aresty name brings to someone who has worked on a research project like this is quite special." Allison McGevna
Douglass College Class of 2005

Curiosity about the world and a commitment to solving problems are passions that drive a research university such as Rutgers. Now, a comprehensive program — the first of its kind in New Jersey — encourages students on Rutgers' New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses to participate in research projects with faculty mentors as early as their sophomore year and to make presentations at a special symposium each spring.

Funded through a major gift from alumnus Jerome Aresty and his wife, Lorraine Aresty, longtime university benefactors, the Aresty Research Center for Undergraduates offers individual advising for students new to the research process and workshops to aid them in finding research opportunities, gaining research skills, and creating successful presentations.

"The Aresty Center makes a valuable contribution because it deals with the research experience in its totality," History Professor Steven Lawson, the center's faculty director, explains. "Students may learn some of these skills in a particular course, but nowhere else can they put the whole process together."

Students in the summer 2006 phase of the Aresty research program included (from left): Bo Wang, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy Class of 2011; Tanya Gordonov, Cook College Class of 2009; and Bensen Fan, Rutgers College Class of 2009.

Through the Aresty Center, 81 sophomores and juniors are working as research assistants for faculty mentors across a broad range of disciplines this year. In addition to spending time each week working directly with a professor on a project, the students attend training sessions at the Aresty Center and meet monthly with center staff to discuss progress and to review journals they keep about their research experiences.

Alumna Allison McGevna says she found the Aresty research program an excellent way to discover the in's and out's of the research process. Allison explored the life of Ruby Hurley, a regional director of the NAACP who died in 1980. The opportunity to study the work of this relatively unknown civil rights activist and then to hone her presentation skills was very valuable, she says. "The level of respect that the Aresty name brings to someone who has worked on a research project like this is quite special," adds Allison, who earned her bachelor's degree from Douglass College in May 2005.

Nava Yasgur, Rutgers
College Class of 2005

Nava Yasgur, RC'05, also found the experience valuable. "Knowing that I had the financial backing of my Aresty grant gave me the confidence to perform my research," she says. She traveled to the National Archives and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to delve into the portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr., in television news programs from 1955 to 1968. The experience was a "psychological boost" to her researching capabilities. Nava believes the opportunities provided by the Aresty Center are a great way in which to learn the formal research process of organizing thoughts and locating resources, as well as mastering the rigors of writing a 100-page paper

Mark Champion, School of
Engineering Class of 2006

Recent graduate Mark Champion looks back favorably on the academic year he spent conducting research on top of a heavy workload of engineering studies. "The most important thing to me was being a part of an emerging technology," says Mark, who examined new methods for providing more efficient and less wasteful power sources for future automobiles.

"Because of the Aresty opportunity, I felt much more prepared to go into a job," Mark states. He considers this confidence a huge reward for participating in the program. Mark is now working as a product test engineer at Analog Devices, Inc., in Massachusetts – a job he landed prior to his graduation in May 2006 from the Rutgers School of Engineering.