Queen’s recognized the students who participated in the 2016 Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowship (USSRF) program with a special event Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Stauffer Library. Principal Daniel Woolf and Vice-Principal (Research) Steven Liss attended the event and congratulated the students on their accomplishments.

The students also displayed their research through a poster event at the library.

The USSRF program is an opportunity for continuing undergraduate students in social sciences, humanities, business and education to develop research skills under the guidance of a faculty researcher. The program provides meaningful opportunities to engage in discovery-based learning and to develop research and presentation skills.

For Conor Hannigan (ArtSci’17), there were a number of beneficial aspects to participating in the USSRF program including having the opportunity to work closely with David Haglund (Political Studies), which he says gave him a greater understanding of how academic research is conducted as well as how to design and conduct research projects.

He also feels that by participating in this type of research program during his undergraduate degree he has significantly strengthened the relevant research skills to pursuing a master's degree.

“The USSRF program allowed me to explore a subject that interests me and ultimately gave me a greater understanding of that subject. This has had practical implications for me as well,” he says. “I am currently in the process of developing and writing an undergraduate thesis. My thesis project is closely related to my USSRF research, so a lot of the research I did in the summer is helping to inform my current project. It seemed practical to design a thesis along similar lines to the USSRF project so that I could continue to study a topic that interests me and build on my previous research.”

For more information, visit the USSRF program website.