At Siena College, there is a new student in the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (CURCA) program who is showcased every week for their research. CURCA was created because Siena knows the value of hands-on learning. The research that students partake in allows them to make great connections as well as present their research at conferences around the world. The program supplies students with great exposure, they would not be able to get in the classroom, and the ability to succeed at their graduate courses. In addition to these amazing advantages that CURCA gives, it also gives you real-world applications to add to your studies, critical thinking skills, publication, improves your marketability, and many more helpful resources.
The student is able to participate in an independent study which allows them to have one-on-one time with their professor, in-depth learning, and private consultations. This program also offers Summer Scholars in which the student works on their research with their professor during the summer months. The school provides the opportunity for students to work on projects that have been funded by an outside source. The outside sources include, but are not limited to, NASA, National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). As a CURCA student, you can participate in presenting and publishing your research. With the help of CURCA and your research mentor, there are many opportunities to showcase your work. The student is able to present here at Siena College during the Academic Showcase, which takes place at the end of every Spring semester. They could also present at other local, regional, national, or international conferences. The other occasions where you could conduct your research are through research-based classes, capstone classes, honor’s thesis, and non-credit-bearing research. If you are interested in joining CURCA, there is a lot more information regarding starting your research on the Siena College website.
You can see who the new Student of the Week is by looking at the Siena website or by reading the Daily Digest that is sent to your Siena emails every day. Professor O’Donnell sends out a posting for the Student of the Week. In this post, there is a picture of the student along with their name and year. It shows the student’s hometown, major, faculty [who is helping the student with their research], and the name of the research project. Below that information, the post goes into detail about what the student is finding and what they are using to conduct their research. This week, Professor O’Donnell sent out the CURCA Student of the Week, Danielle Giordano. She is in the class of 2022 and is studying Psychology. Giordano is researching infant screen time with the help of Dr. Nicole Heller. She is focusing specifically on the increase of infant screen time due to the pandemic and parents having to juggle working from home and homeschooling. This student has submitted her research to the New England Psychological Association’s annual meeting.
The CURCA Student of the Week program is a great way for other Siena students to see what their fellow peers are working on in addition to regular school work. This also allows students to easily see what Siena is providing for them and other students to improve their life post-grad.