2020 Summer McNair Research Internships

Dr. Lindsey Upton: A Thoughtful, Engaged Mentor Makes a Difference in the Lives of First Generation Scholars

11/05/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Faculty Mentor, Dr. Lindsey Upton, “It was a really rewarding experience to talk through scholars’ ideas and facilitate their first foray into research.” Mentees include Alexandria Coronado and Theresa Lee

EWU McNair Faculty Mentor Spotlight: Dr. Lindsey Upton

by Cori Jaeger, EWU McNair Program Academic Advisor

When I spoke with Dr. Lindsey Upton about being a McNair faculty mentor, it was no surprise to me that she’d been in touch with EWU McNair alumna Theresa Lee recently. Dr. Upton mentored Theresa for two summers as she researched Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community. As I worked with Theresa over the last two years it was clear that she felt supported by her mentor and saw Dr. Upton as someone she could reach out to anytime.

Dr. Upton is a wonderful McNair mentor. She is very hands on with mentees, as well as supportive, open-minded and dependable. I would have had a much harder time with my McNair research project as well as graduate admission if I didn’t have her. I am grateful to have found such an outstanding mentor and friend.” – Theresa Lee, EWU McNair Alumna

Theresa was accepted to 5 graduate programs and is currently attending the Bowling Green State University Sociology PhD Program with full funding. She relayed to Dr. Upton that grad school was hard but going well and she was deeply grateful for the preparation she had at EWU, especially through the McNair program and Dr. Upton’s mentorship. In fact, one of her professors at BGSU told her that they were impressed with her level of preparedness.

Dr. Upton also mentored Alexandria Coronado who was accepted to three graduate programs and is currently attending the University of Alabama’s Political Science PhD Program with full funding. Clearly Dr. Upton’s mentorship has had a powerful impact on both of these students and made a significant contribution to their competitiveness as PhD applicants. She is passionate about teaching research and service. When asked about what her experience as a mentor was like, she said,

It was a really rewarding experience to talk through scholar’s ideas once a week and facilitate their first foray into research.” - Dr. Lindsey Upton

McNair faculty mentors formally take on their mentorship in the spring supporting students as they hone in on their research topic and methodology. Then, they meet regularly with them throughout the summer as the students conduct this research and work on a high-level research paper they can submit as an example of writing for graduate school applications. The depth and rigor of this research is what helped Theresa be so well prepared.

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee presents her research poster with Mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton at the American Society for Criminology Conference in 2019.

Dr. Upton’s favorite memory of mentoring was going to the American Society of Criminology Conference with Theresa. She remembered her own first experience at a conference and how she caught the bug for research there. It was incredibly rewarding to see her scholar have that same experience and excitement as a first-generation college student. While McNair encourages and pays for students to attend conferences, not all students and mentors take up this opportunity. Fortunately, Dr. Upton helped Theresa know about and participate in this conference.

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee and her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton take a walking tour of San Francisco on their trip to the American Society of Criminology Conference.

Theresa agreed that it was momentous:

The time I spent at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) conference was incredible! I attended multiple university socials and was able to converse with professors and graduate students about life at their university and research opportunities. It was interesting and helpful for me to see how professionals in the field conduct, investigate, and present their research. All in all, this experience was life changing and unbelievably enjoyable.” – EWU McNair Alumna Theresa Lee

Dr. Upton recognizes that mentoring is a commitment, but she said it was a reasonable one and the benefits are high. She indicated your main role as a mentor is to facilitate the experience. You spend about one hour a week with scholars most weeks and then a few times more than that, such as to help with a particular part of data analysis that an undergrad might not know how to do yet. Further, she noted that McNair really works to prepare students for research, academic writing, and graduate level engagement and skills. Students came to her with questions and information and took an active role in their research. McNair also provides funds for students to travel to conferences and to purchase research supplies.

McNair does a really excellent job on guiding the students through research. Students would bring such amazing questions to their meetings, questions that got deeper and deeper, and this really prepares them for the research and for graduate school. It really is a great partnership between faculty and McNair. Students would constantly reflect back and what a positive experience they were having with McNair.” – Dr. Lindsey Upton

Theresa Lee Graduate School Acceptances 2021 SC

Alexandria Coronado Graduate School Acceptances 2021 TX

Theresa Lee Graduate School Acceptances 2021 01 (1)

Alexandria Coronado Graduate School Acceptances 2021 AL

McNair is grateful to Dr. Upton and all of our McNair faculty mentors. Without them, the program couldn’t run. They provide critical support and guidance for students as they grow their research skills. Moreover, it’s this research experience that allows many of our McNair Scholars to go straight from their undergraduate degree to a PhD program. In addition, McNair mentors often are able to find the perfect students for the program. As soon as I reached out to Dr. Upton about recruiting a new cohort of scholars she immediately said she had a few students she would encourage to participate as well as invited us to provide a promotional video and flyer she could share in her current online course. This kind of engagement is why the EWU McNair program remains strong regardless of the pandemic. This last year, even with scholars being 100% virtual for their McNair experience, we had 13 scholars apply to graduate school who collectively received 36 acceptances, many of which included funding.

This year, EWU McNair is recruiting for as many as 19 new scholars. If you are a student and you’re interested in graduate school, please complete our eligibility questionnaire or just stop in Monroe 107 and say hello! If you are faculty and would like to get involved, please nominate a student and send them our way, or email us. The success of McNair, reflected by our 41 (and growing!) scholars who’ve already attained their PhD’s, really does take a partnership between faculty, McNair, and the scholars themselves.

EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin Completes Summer Research Internship

11/05/2021 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholar Ashley Destin has had the opportunity to participate in two research projects during her time with McNair, both with Dr. Judd Case. While each research project was very different from the other, both align with Ashley’s passion for improving targeted care for cats. She notes that much of what we know about cats now comes from research done with other animals. Ashley’s mission is to shift the focus to the cats themselves, contributing to our understanding of cats and improving the ways we care for them.

For Ashley’s first research project Size Scaling in the Skull of North American Felids as Adaptations for Prey Acquisition, she and Dr. Case measured close to 50 felid skulls. Ashley worked with a local large cat rescue, Cat Tales Wildlife Center, and was able to include data on a mountain lion and an African lion. Despite some limitations on the project due to COVID-19, Ashley was proud to present research at multiple virtual conferences.

Ashley’s second research project with Dr. Case, Feline Red Blood Cell Shape and the Impacts of Cytauxzoonosis, was even more influenced by COVID-19. Initially, the plan was to research feline anemia, comparing humans and healthy cats. Unable to acquire the blood samples that they had lined up, the project changed significantly. What they did notice while looking into anemia was a variation in the blood cell shape within the felid family, which led them down an entirely different research path. While well-noted, the shape variation hasn’t been studied extensively. The rest of the project was spent looking at a parasite that uses these blood cells to proliferate and cause severe infection in domestic cats. COVID-19 protocols didn’t directly affect this phase of research, yet it’s the reason they ended up focused on this specific issue.

This research is ongoing, as Ashley and Dr. Case continue to look at other blood parasites to see if a trend appears. There is currently very little research into the blood cell shape variation and the possible impacts to cat care. Ashley is looking at taking this project to graduate school. Understanding the variation and its impacts has the potential to improve how we care for our cats.

Ashley has this advice for undergraduate researchers in her field:

Be flexible, but don’t give up on what you really want. Science is a big enough field that it’s possible to study what you want, it might just take some weaving to find your way there.

Dr. Jillene Seiver: A Positive Mentor Dedicated to Preparing the Next Generation of Psychology Researchers

11/03/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Faculty Mentor Spotlight: Dr. Jillene Seiver

by Cori Jaeger, EWU McNair Program Academic Advisor

Senior Lecturer Dr. Jillene Seiver first became involved with McNair in 2020. After teaching Psychology 100 to College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) students, one of those students EWU McNair alumna Samantha Sanchez-Garcia – approached Dr. Seiver to be her faculty mentor. Dr. Seiver accepted the role with enthusiasm. The EWU McNair faculty mentor's goal is to support scholars in conducting their EWU McNair Summer Research Internship and moving towards their goal of becoming graduate students. Dr. Seiver guided Samantha through the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process, which approves, monitors, and reviews research involving human subjects, so that Samantha could conduct a survey and use the findings to better understand trauma and its impact on the mental health of college students.

Samantha presented her research at the Baylor McNair Research Conference and at the Western Psychological Association conference. She also applied to over ten graduate programs. After being accepted by three programs, Samantha decided to attend the Industrial and Organizational Psychology PhD Program at Depaul University where she was selected as one of just three students out of 80 applicants! Not only do McNair faculty mentors provide invaluable support and graduate school preparation through research, they are such meaningful connections for scholar that they often forge life-long collegiate relationships. When I interviewed Dr. Seiver in early October, Samantha had already been in touch with her to check-in regarding the experience so far at DePaul.

Dr. Seiver had heard about the McNair program previously from Dr. Kayleen Islam-Zwart, the Chair of the School of Psychology, who mentored EWU McNair alumna Rachel Silverthorn in 2019-2020 and Acea Sands in 2017. In fact, EWU McNair has had over ten mentors from the Psychology department in the last twenty years! Dr. Seiver noted that in the absence of graduate students, in addition to the joy of mentoring, it’s been really helpful to have engaged students to support her research:

McNair students are similar to grad students in their desire and ability to get the work done.”

She sees mentoring as a part of her work as faculty and as a way to give back to the community – to prepare the next generation of psychology researchers. When I asked why she would recommend mentoring to other faculty she said:

McNair may well introduce you to students who you haven’t really connected with prior. Whether they were busy working or were a bit more shy in approaching faculty, you didn’t see them and yet they have all of this potential. I got as much out of the experience as I think my scholars did. I learned a lot.”

She sees McNair as an opportunity to help talented young people by providing the support and lift they need to be successful in graduate school.

Darlynne Khayesi McNair Scholar Announcements 2021

Ian Campuzano McNair Scholar Announcements 2021

EWU McNair faculty mentors do so much for their scholars even beyond the research experience—such as having meaningful conversations, sharing insight into academia, offering feedback on applications and research writing, and writing letters of recommendation—and yet Dr. Seiver found the workload was not overwhelming. In fact, for the 2021 Summer Research Internship, Dr. Seiver took on two mentees: Darlynne Khayesi and Ian Campuzano. She met with students weekly, directing them towards articles, discussing research, and outlining the steps they needed to take. She pointed out, “It’s not your project; your job is to facilitate the student generating and carrying through their own project.” This aligns with what EWU McNair alumnus Dr. Frank King said in his interview for our Social Justice in Research panel at the EWU CSTEM and McNair Symposium June 2021:

Dr. Frank King Social Justice Panel 2021 WSU

Remember that it is the student's project. We have to find a way to help the student find their voice. We can challenge them. But we have to let them find their way." - EWU McNair Alumnus Dr. Frank C. King Jr.

I met with all of our McNair Scholars regularly during the summer and both Ian and Darlynne noted Dr. Seiver provided a clear process they could follow to research their specific interests and that she was always there for them when they had a question or a difficulty. All in all, Dr. Seiver spent an hour or two a week to support each student throughout summer quarter, with an exception of a bit more time when helping students analyze data through methods they have not been introduced to yet as undergrads. Both students' projects have continued into the fall as they finished collecting surveys and finalizing their research papers. Dr. Seiver continues to be available to her students so they have whatever support is needed to finish their projects. While mentors do often review and support mentees in developing their research papers, Dr. Seiver said the McNair program also helps students know what to do and how to do it, so it is not all on the mentor. We also connect students with the Writer’s Center for additional support. Once their research papers are finished, students can submit them as an example of academic writing with their graduate school applications, most often alongside a strong letter of recommendation from their mentor. Both of these elements are a large part of what makes McNair Scholars competitive, in particular if they go directly from undergraduate school to a PhD program.

It is clear through her generous support of McNair Scholars that Dr. Seiver is committed to serving Eastern students. McNair is deeply appreciative of Dr. Seiver and all of our EWU McNair faculty mentors. Without them, this work would not be possible. Mentor support and encouragement is crucial to McNair Scholars’ belief that they belong in academia as well as their acceptance into graduate school and ultimate success in achieving their PhD’s. To date, over 41 EWU McNair Scholars have earned their PhD’s since its inception in 1995. We are grateful to Dr. Seiver for continuing the tradition of great faculty support of McNair Scholars and hope to continue to work with her and many other faculty in the years to come.

EWU McNair Scholar Shawn Dufrene Completes Summer Research Internship

09/27/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Photo of Shawn Dufrene next to text congratulating her with red textured border.

Congratulations Eastern Washington University student Shawn Dufrene! Shawn has completed her summer research internship. Shawn is a senior majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Africana Studies with a minor in History. She is studying African American History as well as what it means to be white in America. Her goal is to become a professor of African American Studies. In 2019 she presented historical research for the Phi Alpha Theta regional conference and the EWU Symposium. She is a volunteer docent at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and an officer in EWU’s Black Student Union. For her 2020 EWU McNair Summer Research Internship, Shawn researched Malcolm X’s racial identity development under Dr. Okera Nsombi, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies.

EWU McNair Scholar Hope Sands Completes Summer Research Internship

06/30/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Hope Sands for completing her 2020 EWU McNair Summer Research Internship! For her EWU McNair Summer Research Internship, Hope studied Fort Spokane under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Buchanan. Hope's project looked at the historical past of Fort Spokane in an attempt to understand the archaeological and geographical significance of the Fort's construction. Previous archaeological projects at this location have focused more so on the Fort itself, rather than the Fort and its surrounding environs. Hope graduated in the Spring of 2020 from Eastern Washington University with a major in Anthropology with a focus in Archaeology and Artifact Conservation, as well as a major in Philosophy. Hope was an Honors student and a member of Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi, honor societies at EWU.

Click here to read more about Hope and her research.

Hope is taking a year off from school to explore field work in anthropology and plans to submit applications to graduate school starting Fall 2022. EWU McNair is so excited for Hope. We're confident that she will succeed in graduate school and have a great impact on our communities.

EWU McNair Alumna Dra. Christina Torres García Invited to Write for Oxford Research Encyclopedias

06/18/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Alumna and EWU McNair Director Dra. Christina Torres García who was invited to write an article about Chicana feminist epistemology in higher education for Oxford Research Encyclopedias to be included in their Race and Education issue. In addition, Dra. Torres García has been hard at work at research and writing in multiple other areas, including: DACAmented students’ Testimonios about their Educational Journey Against the Backdrop of Racist Nativist Discourse in Washington State, submitted to the Journal Race, Ethnicity, and Education; Being Brown in the time of Trump: The Tactics of Dehumanizing (Im)migrants which is now undergoing peer-review at the University of Arizona press; ongoing co-research with EWU McNair Alumna Dr. Laura Zamudio-Orozco examining how race, gender, and class shape STEM research mentor-mentee relationships; and in coordination with the Pell Institute and the Council for Opportunity in Education, is researching first-generation, low-income students' challenges and obstacles during the COVID-19 and how this affects their college aspirations.

Chicana feminist epistemology in higher education is an extensive manuscript that suggests democratizing and diversifying the Western Canon of thought in higher education research. Using the work of decolonial philosophers, Dra. Torres García illustrates how Westernized Universities’ epistemological foundations present a form of Eurocentric fundamentalism. She presents an evolution of the contributions of Chicanas from the 19th to the present and describes how their work has been excluded from the Western canon of thought in higher education. She shows how Chicana feminists have constructed their own epistemic foundations, methodologies, and how they are disrupting the boundaries of how knowledge is created. Because the Latinx population is increasing rapidly, giving rise to more Hispanic Serving Institutions around the nation, her research is critical. It ultimately recommends incorporating Chicana feminist epistemologies into educational research.

Dra. Torres García's current research with Dr. Zamudio-Orozco examining mentor-mentee relationships stems from gaps in the field.

Mentoring is a widely studied concept presented as a vital component for undergraduate students’ research and their graduate school journeys. However, little research examines the effectiveness of mentoring experiences from the perspective of first-generation, low-income students.”

They aim to bring students’ testimonios to the forefront to illustrate how they struggle to navigate the intersections of race, class, and gender and how this shapes the power dynamics within the mentor-mentee relationships.

Dra. Torres García's research with the Pell Institute and Council for Opportunity in Education to find out the short-term and potential future impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the decisions and life experiences of low-income and first-generation college students uses mixed methods involving national surveys to increase our empathetic understanding of student actions, and outcomes for this student population and higher education. Two of our graduating McNair Scholars, Alexandria Coronado and Lizeth Bañuelos, have also supported this research. Both completed their own McNair research projects during their EWU McNair Summer Research Internship and into the 2020-2021 school year on related topics. Alexandria, with the mentorship of Dr. Lindsey Upton, completed the research paper: Impacts of COVID-19 on Food and Housing Student Resources at Universities in the State of Washington. Lizeth, with the mentorship of Dr. Aryn Ziehnert, completed the research paper: First-Generation Students' Academic Experience: The Role of Institutional Supports during a Pandemic. Both students have been accepted to multiple graduate programs and will attend graduate school starting the fall of 2021!

EWU McNair is incredibly proud of all of Dra. Torres García's work. She not only exemplifies outstanding research, but also incorporates a social justice lens in all of her work with an eye to improve higher education and better meet the needs of all students. Like so many of our EWU McNair alumni, Dra. Torres García gives back to her community both in her everyday work and in her research. Recently EWU McNair had the chance to showcase similar approaches by other McNair alumni in our Social Justice in Research Panel. Click here to learn more about EWU McNair’s other alumni accomplishments! Our EWU McNair Scholars continue to show the power of McNair on students, higher education, and changing the world!

Congratulations again to Dra. Christina Torres García!