A junior in biology, Martina Leach collects climate data while riding a bike with weather sensors attached to it .
Martina Leach can do research while riding a bike.
It’s not a take from TikTok. Leach, a junior in biology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, actually collects climate data on weather sensors attached to a bicycle—while riding it—as part of her research with DeAnna Beasley, assistant professor of integrated ecology at the University.
They’re studying variations in microclimates along urban greenways in Chattanooga. Later this spring, Leach will collect and test certain kinds of insects along the trails to see how urban conditions affect those populations.
Both investigations are part of Beasley’s Urban Greenspace Research Collaborative, a partnership between researchers from UTC and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Leach will present her research at next month’s ReSEARCH Dialogues, the annual two-day conference in which undergraduate and graduate students present their investigative work, everything from food security in Africa to the decomposition of microorganisms.
Leach and five other Mocs are participants in this year’s Undergraduate Research Work-Study program, which has paired them up with volunteer professors who serve as advisors and mentors.
Once accepted into the program, students begin taking a seminar class on research concepts during fall semester, then work directly with their mentor-professors over the following two semesters.
Although the experience culminates when students present their work at ReSEARCH Dialogues, the relationships they’ve built with UTC faculty ideally are long-term.
The Undergraduate Research Work-Study program is open to any student who is approved for a job with the University through the Federal Work-Study program, which pays student workers a traditional check for employment vs. lump sums like grants and scholarships.
Students with demonstrable financial needs historically have been closed off to research opportunities while pursuing their bachelor’s degrees, mostly because working and going to school is already hard enough, said Lisa Piazza, director for Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor.
“We want more nontraditional students and we want them to flourish,” she said.
“It’s so cool because they are open to new possibilities and get the workforce skills to make that happen. It takes them from research to the real world.”
Piazza said putting federal work-study students into research jobs with faculty is a fairly novel concept started by George Mason University in 2016. She launched it at the University of South Florida before coming to UTC in 2018.
This year’s group at UTC is heavy on the sciences, but the program is open to all majors. Professors willing to take on a research assistant also are encouraged to apply, Piazza said.
The program also helps participants prepare for advanced degrees and medical school, she said.
Endia Butler, assistant director for professional development at the Center for Career and Leadership Development, helped design and develop the Undergraduate Research Work-Study program while previously working as a financial aid coordinator at UTC.
“I wanted to develop better jobs for students. Instead of just answering phones, I wanted to create experiences for them,” Butler said.
2021-22 Undergraduate research work-study students & mentors
- Junior Breanna Evans, exercise science major, and Marissa McElrone, assistant professor and student advisor for the Master of Public Health Program
- Junior Martina Leach, biology major, and Deanna Beasley, assistant professor of integrated ecology
- Senior Jennah Hyppolite, public law major, and Sherah Basham, assistant professor of criminal justice
- Sophomore Ameerah Turner, biology major, and Ashley Manning-Berg, assistant professor of geology
- Senior Samantha Doss-Watson, biology major, and Joey Shaw, biology professorSenior Amira Gunn, entrepreneurship and marketing major, and Frank Butler, Frank W. McDonald and UC Foundation management professor
