Under the microscope | Student research interestes move beyond the lab

Sitting in synagogue services, mingling with musicians and digging in dirt are all in a day's work for some undergraduate researchers at Penn.

Far from the traditional laboratory work that research is widely considered to be, a day of research at Penn is shaped by student interests and passions.

* * *

Jana Hirsch is a College junior, a Bloomers member and a club curler who likes being outside - particularly if she's around soil.

"I have a strange love of soil," she said. "It's kind of the only area of nature where the biosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere and the lithosphere all come together. Nothing that's around you would ever be here without soil."

As a sub-matriculated Environmental Studies and Health and Societies double major with a minor in Nutrition, she is currently working on three separate research projects.

In one, funded by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, she measures the amount of heavy metal contamination in 225 soil samples from seven urban community gardens in the Haddington area. Every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., she uses x-rays in a method called x-ray fluorescence to check for potentially dangerous concentrations of metals like lead or mercury. She said she was considering making a handbook of preventative measures for the gardeners who work in such areas.

She spends about nine to 15 hours a week on research, while keeping a journal to jot down exactly when she works on what. To her, research is "very hard to separate from [her] life."

* * *

David Reinecke, a sub-matriculated College senior studying the History and Sociology of Science, knows how to play drums, piano, guitar, and has experimented with electronic music.

So, it is no surprise that he has spent the past two years to researching music - from the comparison of science with musical instruments and music-making, to the actual musicians behind the notes.

Last year, at the Penn Humanities Forum, he presented a project that studied the origins of techno music through two artists, James Brown and a German band called Kraftwerk. His paper is soon to be published in the journal, Popular Music and Society.

He said he "easily" spends 10 to 20 hours a week interviewing musicians, transcribing interviews and writing his senior thesis.

* * *

Senior thesis research is all too familiar for Dan Ross, a College senior majoring in History.

He has compiled about 25 interviews for an oral history of the black Jewish community at a local synagogue that is nearly 50 years old. Building from the the Holocaust tradition of preserving voices, Ross decided it would be interesting to preserve those of the congregation members for his thesis.

He averaged two interviews a week, but reconciling his subjects' work schedules with his own 18-hours-a-week work schedule proved to be difficult.

"Often times, I'd be going out at 10 in the morning, taking trains to places I've never been, or even driving," he said.

Nevertheless, he likes the personal aspect of his research. "There's no book I'm looking at," he said. "There are people's faces I am seeing."

* * *

No matter how enthusiastic student researchers are about their topics, time is always a constraining factor.

"Almost all my research hasn't been done for a class," Reinecke said. "In that sense, it takes away from my studies." Writing for deadlines is also a stressful factor.

For Ross, his biggest regret is not having enough time to "take all those wonderful classes at Penn that you never got to take or that you'll never be able to take again."

Hirsch finds the possibility of having wasted time - manifested in negative findings - trying. "Every great scientist and every great professor has a whole drawer of manuscripts that will never ever be published," she explained. "At Penn, people are not used to having things not work out or people saying no."

Despite their occasional difficulties, all agree that research is about pursuing a passion.

"Research a lot of the times is just boring, something you're pushing through that's accentuated with moments of 'aha' and 'yay' - those moments make it worth it," Hirsch said.

Ross added, "You have to pick a topic that when you're in the middle of doing research, and you find something cool about it, it will make your week."

Reinecke and Hirsch said they hope to continue in academia, while Ross said he is considering rabbinical school, a Ph.D. in history or authorship of a book in the future.

Research experience may be something needed, Ross suggested, particularly for those not planning on doing research professionally in the future.

For those considering doing research, Hirsch had a few simple suggestions: gain mentorship relationships with professors, take initiative and do what you love.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.