Skip to main content

Summer Scholars

How would you like to spend your summer on the Roanoke campus working on an independent research project—and get paid for it? Summer scholars are paid $3,000, receive summer housing (valued at $1,400), and a summer course credit.

Roanoke's Summer Scholar Program is designed for serious students who want to use their summers wisely and work one-on-one with faculty. Every year, students compete for selection to receive one of the summer scholarships. Faculty from across the college review student research proposals and decide these prestigious awards.

For Summer Scholars, the experience continues into the fall, as every student presents their project during Family Weekend. A good salary. A mind-expanding summer. A chance to strut your stuff. It all adds up.


Recent Summer Scholars Projects (2024)

Humanities

  • Elizabeth Clay: Diving into Directing: Halley Feiffer’s How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them. Major: Theatre. (Faculty Mentor: Nelson Barre, Fine Arts)
  • Katherine Hall: Analysis of archeological ceramics found in E02.1. Major: History. (Faculty Mentor: Leslie Warden, Fine Arts)
  • Zoe Jones: Here, Queer, Black, and Functional: Patching the Holes in Black Literature About Families. Major: Creative Writing and Communication Studies. (Faculty Mentor: Teresa Milbrodt, English & Comm Studies)
  • Kaylee Miller: Children, Humans, or Threats?: The Windermere Children. Major: History, Political Science, and Art History. (Faculty Mentor: Rob Willingham, History)
  • Joshua Woodley: History, Myth & Memory in Messenia. Major: History. (Faculty Mentor: Jason Hawke, History)

Social Sciences

  • Mikaela Gantz: The Land Dictum: Environmental Standing for a More Inclusive Legal Future. Major: Political Science and Environmental Studies. (Faculty Mentor: Todd Peppers, Public Affairs)
  • Halie Higley: Rehabilitation and Reentry in the Roanoke County Justice System. Major: Criminal Justice and Sociology. (Faculty Mentor: Kristin Richardson, Sociology & Public Health)
  • Leila “Lilly” Hussein: Why Are People Violent?: René Girard, Violence, and Mimetic Theory. Major: Political Science. (Faculty Mentor: Justin Garrison, Public Affairs)
  • Madison Snyder: The Difference in Stress Between Freshmen and Seniors Focusing on Presenting. Major: Psychology. (Faculty Mentor: Lauren Kennedy-Metz, Psychology)

Natural Sciences

  • Lorenzo Camobreco: rbfox1 gene expression and its impact on neurological development using zebrafish (Danio rerio). Major: Biology. (Faculty Mentor: Chris Lassiter, Biology)
  • Samson Hill: Transition Metal-Free N-Atom Transfer Reactions with Diaziridinium Salts. Major: Chemistry. (Faculty Mentor: Daniel Nasrallah, Chemistry)
  • Willard Keaton: Development of Shelling Methods to Enhance Fluorescence of CuInS2 Nanocrystals. Major: Chemistry & Physics. (Faculty Mentor: Steve Hughes, Chemistry)
  • Julianna Morrow: Effects of Season on White-tailed Deer Behavior Between Suburban and Rural Landscapes. Major: Biology. (Faculty Mentor: Rachel Collins, Biology)

Roanoke students also frequently present their research work at regional and national professional conferences.  Most summer scholars present their work at such conferences in addition to the on-campus Showcase of Experiential Learning.

For more information contact the Director of Undergraduate Research (research@roanoke.edu)