Students receive Oxbridge Summer Research Grants

Dr. Kenneth Alpern, director of the Oxbridge Honors Program, said there is no real checklist that the committee considers when selecting which applicants will receive grants.

“We’re just looking for a proposal that shows a reasonable understanding of the problem... It also needs to be substantive but realistic in what will be able to be accomplished,” Alpern said. “Something I always look for is a failsafe. Before I did my dissertation, someone said to me, ‘If everything goes wrong, how will you get a dissertation out of it?’ That’s something they need to consider. You know, practically, how will they make sure they’ve got something at the end.”

To apply for a grant, students need first to formulate their research question and then develop an outline of how they plan to answer those questions. Students also consult with the faculty member they would like to serve as their mentor for the duration of their project. Once everything has been submitted, it falls to the Selection Committee to make a decision.

“It’s often very painful to reject good proposals from very able students. We like to give favor to younger students to build them up, but at the same time, we like to give favor to older students to prepare them for grad school. That makes it a very difficult decision,” Alpern said.

Of the 10 students who submitted proposals, six were selected for the grants. Sophomores Paige Bolduc, literature and theory major, Jessica Gliserman, institutions and policy major, Stephen Whitmore, molecular biology major and Patrick Ward, institutions and policy major, were all selected for grants, as were first-years Eric Lewis, literature and theory major and Kathryn Polizzi, Oxbridge literature and theory and history major.

Bolduc’s research will be looking at the many debates between feminist critics concerning what feminist theory should actually look like.

“It was surprising to me to see how many different trains of thought there are regarding how feminist theory should be interpreted and things like that,” Bolduc said.

Whitmore’s research focuses on a line of cancer cells that has been immortalized.

“They’re from U138MG, which was taken from the Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most aggressive and common form of brain cancer. I’m trying to determine why a certain protein that regulates cell death is mutated in this form of cancer,” Whitmore said.

Gliserman’s research looks at Christian Zionism and the potential for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while Polizzi’s will explore the portrayal of immigrants in literature.

Each of the four is planning on using their research this summer as a potential spring board for their senior theses.

“I can use a senior thesis to replace one of my comprehensive exams,” Gliserman said. “So that’s something that I’m considering with my research.”

Of course, these students will not be spending their entire summer researching. Three of them will be preparing for their junior year abroad. Polizzi, on the other hand, will be embarking on perhaps the toughest journey she has faced: a family road trip.

Austin Baragary can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.