Each semester and summer, 91����Ƶ students spread out across the globe, usually accompanied by faculty and staff who have lived in the area and who, with the help of natives, introduce a perspective into the culture that is far more intimate than just visiting the usual tourist sites. The experience is much more unique than typical study-abroad programs in which students are housed in universities and take traditional academic coursework.

Several graduate programs also offer cross-culturals, including the and , MA in biomedicine [read more and ], and .

View a of 91����Ƶ’s cross-cultural program.

The unforgettable experience of her semester travels in France and the Ivory Coast “still permeates my life 20 years later,” said Carrie Stambaugh Bert at a 2014 . More recently, student Sarah Regan shared that her Central Europe travels “really broadened my view.”

“I learned so much more about things I never even thought about at home, things I never thought existed to know,” she said.

A panel discussion, “Drinking in Knowledge at the Source: 91����Ƶ’s Cross Cultural Program,” at the 2017 faculty-staff conference discussed the origins, goals and changes over the years of one of 91����Ƶ’s most unique programs, which started formally in 1982.

Panelists included:

• is a nursing professor, director of the Humanitarian Action Leadership program and interim cross-cultural program director. She and her husband Jim have led several cross-culturals, most recently to Guatemala and Cuba. The couple spent 10 years in church-sponsored service in Central America.
• , program assistant, has accompanied groups with her husband Brian Martin Burkholder, most recently to Bolivia.
• , emeritus professor of German, was one of the first cross-cultural leaders. His introduction to the cross-cultural experience came with an alternative service tour in Austria with Pax, a program of created in response to the reinstatement of the military draft in the United States after the start of the Korean War. Glick helped to launch Goshen’s Study-Service Term in 1968 and led a year of this program (1969-70) in Guadeloupe, FWI.
• ��has led the local context cross-cultural and groups to the U.S./Mexico border, Guatemala and Cuba, often with his wife, Professor Deanna Durham;
• , psychology professor, has led groups to India, where she spent many years as a teenager;
• ��is a professor of history and director of the Washington D.C.-based , housed in the Nelson Good House in the Brookland neighborhood. She has also led two groups to Europe.

Audience members included faculty and staff alumni who had experienced cross-culturals themselves as students, faculty and staff trip leaders, prospective leaders, and one faculty member, speaking for many others, who said he was “jealous … When do we get to go?”

Challenging changes: technology and globalization

The first broad theme to be discussed was notable changes over the years. Technology came up several times. Instead of leaving behind their family friends, students have access to phones and computers, which leaders say can be a distraction and even a destabilizing presence.

“It’s difficult for the experience to be an immersive one,” said Brenneman.

This accessibility also impacts parental demands and expectations: “Some parents think that because their child can contact them every day, that they should be talking or Skyping every day, and when they don’t, that becomes a challenge for the student,” one panelist said.

Peachey also mentioned creeping globalization: for example, visiting an American-style mall in Guatemala “can make you think you’re in Bethesda, Maryland.”

At WCSC, Washington D.C.’s rapid gentrification has changed the demographics and diversity of the area. Schmidt, a longtime D.C. resident, points out that when she first started as director in 1999, the city had more than 70 percent African American residents; that number has fallen to just over 50 percent.

She pointed out, though, that the cross-cultural experience is very much shaped by the choices of the leader. For example, one could visit Germany with students, as she did this summer, and completely ignore the current refugee crisis. Her students did not; they interacted with Syrian refugees. “It’s all in how you teach it and what you expose your students to,” she said.

Defining and measuring ‘success’

Professor emeritus Ervie Glick posed a question about measurement of success to his fellow panelists. “There is no test afterwards,” he pointed out, adding that the extensive journaling required of student-travelers often provides a window into unwitnessed and subtle changes to student worldviews.

Burkholder said a “growth in empathy” was a quality she considered to be a favorable measurement. One group of students, when visiting a poor area of a South American city, showed increased awareness of how their presence might be perceived negatively by residents.

Brenneman shared an anecdote of two students who became lost in Kolkutta —“one of the safest cities in Asia” — and eventually, using broken Hindi, found their way back, exhilarated by their new-found confidence.

Within a day of arriving at WCSC, Schmidt says students are sent on a scavenger hunt around the nation’s capital, using any combination of public transportation to visit known and not-so-known places. The tradition builds confidence in a very tangible way.

“In our culture, there’s not enough opportunities for proving themselves and taking risks and having an adventure,” said Peachey, theorizing about what makes the cross-cultural program such a transformational experience for undergraduate students. “I think that’s one of the big draws.”

More on 91����Ƶ’s cross-cultural program

• Visit a to see the program’s history of travel and immersion around the world.
• Learn more about 91����Ƶ’s cross-cultural requirement and visit the cross-cultural blog.
• Read more about to Europe, Bolivia, Navajo Nation and Spain.
• The explored Anabaptist and Reformation history, with special attention to women’s history and to sites in Austria.
• The first in fall 2016, led by Professor and his wife Amanda, attended 35 plays, visited 38 theaters, and produced their own dramatic piece about the different stages of cultural integration.

The final blessing, offered by Undergraduate Campus Pastor , included a prayer for each attendee, the students from all faiths and backgrounds who would begin arriving on campus that day, and — in acknowledgement of — for courage to confront “systems of racism that destroy rather than build the Kingdom of God.”

This year’s theme��—��“Expanding the Legacy, Enlarging the Tent” — emphasized integrating 91����Ƶ’s history and traditions with a vision for its second century; the conference also officially launched 91����Ƶ’s celebrations.

Strong vision

President donned three different types of eyewear during her keynote address to illustrate the “special kind of seeing we do in Anabaptist Mennonite schools … more clearly, deeply and widely.” [Listen to the .]

91����Ƶ is well-poised with “strong vision and high purpose” for the future, she said.

Merging perspectives of hindsight and foresight with Anabaptist-inspired insight, she noted 91����Ƶ’s strong and vibrant historic legacy; a robust, holistic and distinctive education that includes cross-cultural study and faith formation; and a cohesive, faith-filled community of faculty and staff.

“We have just begun to promote a vibrant future of counter-cultural Mennonite education, one that prepares our students for relevant and in-demand careers and meaningful spiritual lives shaped by the reconciling love of Jesus,” Huxman said.

While praising 91����Ƶ’s entrepreneurial spirit, epitomized in pioneering professor emeritus and philanthropist Margaret “Speedy” Martin Gehman and Alumnus of the Year , Huxman noted new academic offerings: the program, offered collaboratively with Goshen (Indiana) College, as well as the new four-year and a neuroscience minor.

Approximately 380 new and returning employees participated. The fall semester begins Monday, Aug. 28.

��Many voices

A panel of respondents to Huxman’s speech included , , and . The final session of storytelling, a much-loved tradition, included , , , and .

Special guest Donald B. Kraybill provided a one-hour preview of his forthcoming Centennial history, 91����Ƶ: One Hundred Years of Counter-Cultural Education (Penn State Press, 2017) to be released at the Oct. 13-15 .

Four breakout sessions highlighted influential programs, themes and concepts:

• — Professors and traced the history of racial-ethnic diversity at 91����Ƶ, with special attention to current diversity trends and shifting paradigms. They asked, “How could and should paradigms and power structures shift? How can and should our new diversity help us more fully understand and realize the radical nature of our Anabaptist values?” Click here to .

• Drinking in Knowledge at the Source: 91����Ƶ’s Cross Cultural Program — A panel of five experienced cross-cultural program leaders discussed one of 91����Ƶ’s most unique academic programs and included , professor and interim cross-cultural program director; , program assistant; , emeritus professor; , cross-cultural leader and adjunct instructor; and professors and .
• Creating a Beloved Community at 91����Ƶ: Organizational Culture as Blessing and Barrier — Professor discussed culture and sub-culture identities as both assets and liabilities. He invited the group to list both blessings and barriers to 91����Ƶ’s culture (and multiple sub cultures), noting that you must first understand your own organizational culture before you can��interpret for��—��and thus fully integrate��—��newcomers.
• “Thy Word is Truth”: Old Song, New Tune — Professor , associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Professor discussed “word” and “truth” as the biblical writer imagined these words, and engaged with ways that the motto speaks to��91����Ƶ at 100 years.

In a recent blog post, Payne reflected her own growth as she ‘mimicks’ her experienced guides and then steps off on her own.

As a child, I played follow the leader. I mimicked the actions of others for fun.

As a college student, I find myself in a very similar situation. This cross-cultural is an extreme game of follow the leader.

Our leaders, Kim and Seth, model how to function in contemporary Europe. They guide us through cities and on public transportation. They gladly share their wisdom and calm our nerves. We follow. We learn by example.

These times of mimicking prepare us for times of independence. Almost daily we are given opportunities to explore or assignments to find specific locations. This is when the roles reverse. My peers and I will take turns directing, learning through practice.

Although this ever-changing game of follow the leader is fun and challenging, it has a specific focus. We are tracing the paths of our Anabaptist roots.

Besides the “Radical Europe” tour of Anabaptist sites in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, 91����Ƶ cross-cultural groups are in Bolivia, the Navajo Nation and Spain.

• The Bolivia group is led by Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor, and Linda Martin Burkholder, cross-cultural program assistant.
• The Navajo Nation group is led by Gloria Rhodes, chair of the applied social sciences department, and Jim Yoder, biology professor.
• The Spain group is led by Professor Adriana Rojas, of the language and literature department, her husband Patrick Campbell, and Barbara Byer, the department’s administrative assistant.

The 91����Ƶ cross-cultural experience, which has been part of the curriculum for more than 30 years, is very different from the typical “study abroad” program. Approximately 68 percent of all 91����Ƶ graduates go on an international cross-cultural trip; the remaining students fulfill the cross-cultural requirement exploring the vast diversity here in the United States. Most graduates name their cross-cultural experience as a significant part of their 91����Ƶ education.

Trips are led by faculty members who have deep roots in the countries and communities where groups travel. As an example of these deep roots, nearly 20 faculty and staff are “Third Culture Kids,” who spent significant years of their youth in another country/countries. Some 20 countries on six different continents are represented tin these experiences. Most 91����Ƶ faculty and staff have also lived and worked abroad for significant periods of time.

Upcoming cross-cultural trips include:

• Israel/Palestine, fall 2018, with Bill Goldberg, director of the Summer Peacebuilding Insitute, and Lisa Schirch, research professor at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding;
• Guatemala and Cuba, spring 2018, with Byron Peachey, academic advocacy program adviser, and Lisa King, instructor in the nursing department;
• India, spring 2018, Kim G. Brenneman, psychology professor, and her husband, Bob Brenneman;
• Kenya, summer 2018, with Roxy Allen Kioko, professor of business, and her husband, Felix Kioko;
• Paraguay, summer 2018, with Greta Anne Herin, professor of biology, and Laura Yoder, professor of nursing;
• Marginal(ized) Europe: Bulgaria and Greece, summer 2018, with Andrew White, professor of English, and his wife, Daria White;
• Lithuania, summer 2018, with Jerry Holsopple, professor in the visual and communication arts department;
• , offered each semester in Washington D.C. allows for immersion into urban culture, while acquiring valuable work experience in an internship.

“Students learn an incredible amount by taking a research project from start to finish,” said Dr. , who co-directs the program with Dr. . “As they enter their final semester here at 91����Ƶ, many are applying to medical school or other professional health schools, and their research projects give them an important and unique experience that sets them apart from other applicants.”

Since 2013, the MA in Biomedicine program has helped 27 graduates prepare for careers as health professionals. The research project is an important and distinctive curricular challenge, bringing students together with faculty advisors and community mentors as they develop and conduct original research.

“91����Ƶ’s Biomedicine program provides students with the opportunity to conduct research that is original and hypothesis-driven,” says Stauffer. “This equips each student with a unique niche that they can optimally leverage when applying for professional health schools. Original research opens doors and can make all the difference as a springboard for a student’s future.”

Jessica Morris hopes to become a doctor of osteopathic medicine or earn a PhD in medical scientific research. Milan Sheth is most interested in the field of emergency medicine. The research project offered the opportunity to delve into topics relevant to their career goals.

Morris, a George Mason University graduate, investigated the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Shenandoah Valley residents falling into the “coverage gap” created by Virginia’s limited Medicaid benefits.

She came away with a new knowledge of the objectivity required to conduct research, a healthy skepticism about media coverage of health issues and how that affects patient knowledge.

Sheth, an Ohio State University graduate who is interested in emergency medicine, researched the factors involved in responses of patients undergoing rapid induction of a common anesthetic, ketamine.

His research has specific applications for first responders and other medical personnel, who need identify patients who may be most susceptible to potential adverse effects associated with rapid sequence intubation of ketamine.

He says he’s gained new skills, such as identifying relevant published research and interpreting statistical results, and a new appreciation for the impact of clinical research on patient treatment. “I have a deeper appreciation for researchers and the dedication they put forth towards finding breakthroughs and cures,” he added. “My passion for medicine continues to grow and this project solidified my purpose for entering the healthcare field.”

Student research

A comprehensive list of researchers, their projects and committee members follows:

��Nkem Asianua: “African American’s/African’s Awareness of Their Increased Risk of ACE Inhibitor Induced Angioedema in Ventura County, Ca.” Committee members: Professors Esther Tian and Greta Ann Herin.

Lujain Binyahya: “An Analysis of Patient Experience at Sentara-RMH.” Committee members: Professor Carolyn Stauffer, Steve Nelson.

Sanjay Dick: “Felis Catus and Chronic Renal Disease: A Comparison of Clinical Treatments Found at Rural and Urban Animal Hospitals in Southeastern Pennsylvania.” Committee members: Professor Tara Kishbaugh and Jennifer Lyle, D.V.M.

Alexandar Hetrick: “Student Influenza Vaccination Rate and Risk of Infectious Disease at 91����Ƶ.” Committee members: Professors Carolyn Stauffer and Jeffrey Copeland.

Jessica Morris: “Reforming Health Care: The Impacts of The Affordable Care Act on the Health Insurance Status of Individuals Residing in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.” Committee members: Professors Kim Brenneman and Jenni Holsinger.

Melody Nyoni: “Examination of STI awareness among transitioning youth in the Valley Youth House (VYH) Program in Allentown, Pa.” Committee members: Professor Kim Brenneman, Elizabeth Allen.

Nikita Patel: “The Value of Time and Patient Satisfaction during Physician-Patient Visits in Central Virginia.” Committee members: Professors Carolyn Stauffer and Ann Hershberger.

��Noor Qureshi: “Mental Health Attitudes in the Dallas Pakistani Community.” Committee members: Professors Jeffrey Copeland and Gregory Koop.

Chanel Sampson: “Possible Risk Factors of Uterine Fibroids Evaluated through a Self-Assessment of Symptom Severity.” Committee members: Professors Greta Ann Herin and Cathy Rittenhouse.

Shanae Scott: “Routine Eye Exams and Awareness of Ocular Disease Associated with Diabetes in Harrisonburg, Va.” Committee members: Professors Esther Tian and Tara Kishbaugh.

Ruchir Shah: “Determining the Link Between Smile Symmetry and Character Perception at 91����Ƶ.” Committee members: Professors Gregory Koop and Ann Hershberger.

Milan Sheth: “Ketamine-induced Changes in Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Pre-hospital Intubated Patients.” Committee members: Professors Daniel Showalter and Matthew Siderhurst.

Benjamin Stern: “Essential Competencies for the Rural American Doctor.“ Committee members: Professor Kim Brenneman and Randall Longenecker, MD.

Cleveland, the keynote speaker at 91����Ƶ’s annual faculty/staff conference, is associate professor of the practice of reconciliation at the Duke University Divinity School and author of (InterVarsity Press, 2013).

A sought-after speaker who was named one of “Five online shepherds to follow” by JET magazine, Cleveland remarked that the opportunity to speak at 91����Ƶ was irresistible.

“As a reconciliation scholar and practitioner, how could I say no to 91����Ƶ?” she said.

Inclusion, equity can be strengthened

The annual faculty/staff conference brings together approximately 350 members of the campus community at the start of the academic year for fellowship, worship and professional development. The theme of the Aug. 17-18 conference was “Embracing Diversity,” with diversity being defined in its various dimensions as race, faith, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, physical abilities and other identities.

The topic was also informed by goals within the “to recruit, develop, and retain diverse, effective faculty and staff.”

“This goal goes to heart of our mission and values as a university,” said Provost , who chaired the planning committee. “Development of culturally competent educators and members of the campus community goes hand-in-hand with our mission of educating students to serve and lead in a global context. The conference helped us to continue discussion and assessment utilizing both our own significant resources and those provided by outside experts.”

In 2015, 91����Ƶ’s traditional undergraduate population included a record-high 37 percent of students who are ethnic minorities or come from other countries. That number is up from 36 percent in 2014 and 29 percent in 2013.

“We have many strengths in this area,” Kniss said, noting the institution’s history of inclusion of African Americans, the required undergraduate cross-cultural experience, and a high percentage of faculty and staff who have lived and worked in other countries. “Our work in global peacebuilding and in restorative justice are a strong foundation to build upon, but we must be proactive in confronting and addressing questions of inequality and equity that challenge us as a community.”

Afternoon sessions included

• Cleveland on “Power and Place: Why Some Students Thrive and Others Don’t on Christian College Campuses”;
• chairs , director of multicultural and international student services, and , ombudsperson, about focus group research conducted in spring 2016;
• Professors and , admissions counselor and graduate student Julian Turner, on “Black Lives Matter and White Fragility”;
• Professors and on teaching and advising diverse students with mental health challenges:
• Professors and on building inclusive organizational cultures;

• 91����Ƶ Lancaster Provost , on Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity;
• Professor , of James Madison University, on “Difference and Civility: Building Resilient Responses to Intolerance.”

‘Do the work. Leave your turf. Listen.’

Cleveland began her address as a social psychologist, outlining why humans living in a pluralistic and complex world define themselves so fiercely within a group identity, and then moved into the theological realm. She asked how the privileged and the powerful can step away from that hierarchical space.

Cleveland, the daughter of church planters from California, pointed out that only 11 percent of Americans are raised by two college-educated parents. Acknowledging her own privilege — raised in a home committed to higher education and daily enrichment and educational experiences, she attended an elite East Coast boarding school and Dartmouth College. This upbringing led her to examine closely Jesus’s relationship to the oppressed and marginalized in a world that was “rife with inequality.”

She asked: “What would it look for me to empty myself of my power and my privilege in a way that Jesus did?”

Using two parables, she pointed out that Jesus did hard and radical work: he shifted attention, changed narratives and transposed power positions so that marginalized peoples moved into positions of power.

“Jesus didn’t say, ‘Figure it out. Jump up to the Trinity,’” she said, evoking laughter from the audience. “Do the work. Be last. Leave your turf. That will look different for every person. How do you leave your turf at 91����Ƶ? How will you, the privileged, move from first to last? … So many of us have never been last so we don’t know what that looks like.”

“It was rough,” Brenneman recalls of her family’s return to Hesston, Kansas, in time for her senior year. “What was important when I came back was the car you drove and the clothes you wore. Those were not important at all when I was at Woodstock.”

Having that extended experience outside of her home culture while growing up makes Brenneman what’s known as a . The “third-culture” label acknowledges the mixed cultural identity a TCK often develops, in which they can feel neither completely at home in the culture they were born into nor the one(s) in which they spent considerable amounts of time.

“I found that I identified more with kids who had had the same experience [of living overseas] after I returned home,” says Brenneman, one of about 20 current 91����Ƶ faculty and staff who identify as TCKs. (Although the “TCK” label includes the word “kid,” the effects of growing up in more than one culture are often life-long.)

Brenneman’s background later inspired the direction of her academic career. After graduating from 91����Ƶ with a degree in psychology, she went on to get a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. She wrote her dissertation on the well-being and adjustment of American kids living in Korea.

Often, Brenneman says, the most challenging part of being a TCK is not living abroad – it’s adjusting to life after returning to their home culture.

“Part of the adjustment [for TCKs] is trying to figure out where they fit in. They [might be] American, but they don’t feel completely American,” says Brenneman. “It’s hard for people who haven’t been in that experience to understand it.”

A dozen TCKs on campus

That’s something first-year student Cela Hoefle knows well. When she was 11, Hoefle’s family moved to a city in northern Thailand, where she lived until she finished high school. She started at 91����Ƶ in the fall of 2015. Hoefle is one of more than a dozen TCKs, including her older sister, enrolled in 91����Ƶ’s traditional undergrad programs.

“When people first see me they expect me to just blend back in,” says Hoefle, who has been active in both the Third-culture Kids Club on campus (her sister, Nika, was co-president of the group before graduating this spring) and the International Student Organization.

[Read Nika’s op-ed in the Weather Vane campus newspaper on being a Third-culture Kid and more about Third Culture Kids .]

A psychology major, Hoefle quickly connected with Brenneman as a fellow TCK. Before long, Hoefle began assisting Brenneman with an ongoing research project on the psychological impact of 91����Ƶ’s on students.

The goal, Brenneman says, is to understand and quantify what students mean when they say – as they often do – that their experiences on the university’s cross-cultural programs were “life-changing.” One of Hoefle’s roles in the project is helping with data collection by interviewing students after they return from studying abroad.

“As a TCK, I’m still just trying to figure out what that experience means to me,” Hoefle says. “Seeing [these changes] in other people helps me understand myself in some ways.”

‘Globally knowledgeable’ students help with transition for TCKs

Although 91����Ƶ’s cross-cultural study programs give many students an often-profound first taste of life in unfamiliar parts of the world, it’s a far different experience from that of being a TCK.

One of the distinctions that Brenneman has observed between the groups is that TCKs tend to focus on the similarities between cultures, while students who experience life outside the United States for the first time through a cross-cultural tend to focus on differences.

Those tendencies aside, Brenneman says the prevalence of cross-cultural education throughout the curriculum, along with 91����Ƶ’s emphasis on becoming more “globally knowledgeable and accepting,” help create a supportive atmosphere for TCKs at the university.

At the same time, she adds, the relatively large group of TCKs on campus contributes significantly to that same globally-aware environment that 91����Ƶ prizes.

“TCKs bring strengths to the 91����Ƶ community as a result of their experiences,” Brenneman says. “They help bring out the global emphasis that we have.”

Her research question: What are the differences between how hearing people think they view the deaf community and how they actually view the deaf community?

Wheatley is one of nine senior psychology majors selected to present their findings at the Virginia Association for Psychological Science annual conference April 20-22, 2016, in Newport News, Virginia. All of the students are classmates in a two-semester applied psychology research course taught by Professor .

For most students, their projects have led not only to the desired academic goals, but also to personal revelation and clarity of professional goals.

Wheatley, for example, is also involved in an independent study in Deaf culture and community, and she has plans to continue the research in graduate school. And that friend who shared the feelings that were the impetus behind Wheatley’s research? Her future mother-in-law.

With curriculum change, students enter research process earlier

A strength of the at 91����Ƶ is that all students have the opportunity to conduct individual research on a topic related to their unique interests, says department chair . “These original projects introduce every student to the ins and outs of scientific inquiry.”

Senior psychology majors at 91����Ƶ enter the research course with a “broad background in the field of psychology,” having fulfilled prerequisites of general, developmental, social and cognitive psychology, as well as a course on interpersonal relationships among others, Koop said. They all have been introduced formally to the research process in the Cognitive Psychology class, where each student formulates a research proposal.

Many of those proposals then develop into the independent research project required in Psychology 472/473, Koop says.

New curriculum that begins next year will introduce the design and analysis portions of the research process earlier, an emphasis which will not only build critical skills but quickly immerses majors in the intellectual rigor of their discipline.

Topics move students deeper into field

In Psychology 472/473, students delve into the research process while designing, developing and implementing their own project. The individualized research projects is intended to create “more critical consumers of scientific results” and “strong candidates for graduate programs,” Koop said.

Most of the classmates expressed both a new appreciation for the “intricacies of research,” as one student put it, and also for the seriousness of the endeavor. “It takes such precaution to make even basic claims,” says Rachel Bowman, who designed an experiment on racial bias.

“When you read a research article, it often seems as though the researchers easily attained the results they are sharing with the world,” said Emily Myers, who has used the project to familiarize herself with attachment theory in preparation for a career in counseling. “In reality, conducting research takes an incredible amount of background research, planning, gaining feedback, working with others, etc.”

In developing her research about developmental trauma associated with foster care and adoption, Bethany Chupp realized her project called for something “along the lines of a doctoral thesis…a longitudinal study of adoptive families over the course of several years.” Setting that aside, she scaled down to the question of whether “changing the vocabulary used to discuss adoption changes participants’ attitudes toward adoption and foster care.”

The title of her project is “Adoption as Trauma: Viewing Adoption Through a Restorative Lens.”

“It takes baby steps to get to bigger goals,” she said. “I need to start a basic level of examining attitudes and language before applying that to concrete case studies.”

��Meeting and networking at conferences

Attending conferences is an important professional development opportunity for undergraduate students, Koop said. “You get to test ideas, receive feedback and meet future colleagues. It’s a great experience not only to witness scientists discussing their original work, but to contribute to this exchange of knowledge and develop professional communication skills.”

Other students selected to attend the conference include

• Brooke Lacock, Does Anticipation of Smartphone Notification Interfere with Working Memory Performance?
• Mackenzie Lapp, High and Low Information-Load Music: Implications for Reading Comprehension;
• Kathryn Phillips, Self-Affirmation While Test Taking;
• Sam Swartzendruber, The Effect of Caffeine Deprivation on Sleep Deprived College Students;
• Wesley Wilder, Seeking Clarity: Violent Video Games, Image Quality, and Aggression.

This nudged the second-year graduate student to more investigation: Was vaping as healthy as manufacturers claimed?

For Fernandez, as well as four master’s in biomedicine candidates at 91����Ƶ who defended their theses on Dec. 5, the research process was much more than the sum of the parts.

“I appreciated applying scientific concepts to real world questions that were medically and socially relevant,” said Fernandez, who has received acceptance letters from two medical schools for next year.

Independent research guided by professors

Professor , Fernandez’s advisor, teaches the summer research methods and the fall data methods courses that guide students through the research project, which is the culmination of the five-semester course of study.

“In the summer, the students develop their topic, go through the Institutional Review Board process, create methods and gather data,” she explained. “In the fall class, we look at data analysis and the writing of the manuscript.”

A committee of three professors from different disciplines guides each student through the rigors of research. “We advise carefully, because this is a big investment of time and energy from the student, and an important learning experience,” Halterman said. “You really don’t know how to do research until you create a project of your own and go through the process. There’s troubleshooting, and navigation of politics of different institutions and organizations, and learning how to work with people.”

The process-oriented, hands-on approach is excellent preparation for careers in biomedicine or for medical school, Halterman says. “Most students don’t have any experience with original hypothesis-driven research and this really makes them stand out when they apply to medical or dental school.”

The research project is the final component of a four-part program that includes coursework, a cross-cultural experience and a practicum experience. Transdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving are used and encouraged as students and faculty engage in a curriculum that integrates the natural and medical sciences with faith and ethics, Halterman says, a unique training that also positions students to be collaborative and holistic investigators.

Fall 2015 Research Projects

Rachel Thomas: “A Data Analysis on Demographic Information of Patients with ADHD at [local medical practice]”

Thomas, who works in healthcare and has a goal of becoming a physician’s assistant, says her interest arose from her own awareness of the high rates of ADHD diagnosis. She analyzed demographical data from an area medical practice to identify correlations between adult ADHS and gender, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. In demographical analyses of childhood ADHD already done by other researchers, ADHD was more frequently observed in Caucasians and in males. The data set included more than 970 patients ranging in age from 18-65+ and confirmed that a diagnosis of adult ADHS was more likely to be seen in Caucasion men than in other populations. Her research will be used to help identify and treat adult patients with ADHD. Committee members: Drs. and

Hannah Bell: “Women’s Awareness of Risk Factors Linked to Breast Cancer in Harrisonburg, Virginia”

Bell conducted a survey in which 60 female respondents self-reported their knowledge about obesity and breast cancer. She found that women in Harrisonburg did not fully understand the risk factors of breast cancer, including the role of postmenopausal obesity. Though the survey only covered a small population, it affirmed the need to raise awareness among the local population about the risk factors. Committee members: Drs. and

Vipul Nayani: ��“The Effect of Collegiate Athletic Training Duration on Athlete Injury Incidence”

Nayani, a 2014 Virginia Tech graduate who plans to become a family physician, developed this project with an interest in “multifactorial” causes and individual proclivities toward injury. He observed a correlation between training time and injury, with evidence suggesting that more than 18 hours of weekly athletic training were 23% more likely to develop athletic injuries than athletes that trained for fewer than 18 hours per week. Committee Members: Drs. and Carolyn Stauffer.

Tareq Yousef: “Cost Analysis of Dental Services Before and After the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area and the Shenandoah Valley Region of Virginia”

Yousef, who has an undergraduate degree from George Washington University in public health, wanted a research topic that integrated current political events with healthcare, and specifically dentistry, his future profession. He studied the effect of the Medical Device Excise Tax, which supports the Affordable Care Act and is levied on device manufacturers, on the cost of oral health services in dental offices and labs. Statistically significant changes in cost of services were reported for all of the lab services as well as some dental procedures. Committee members: Drs. and Roman Miller.

Jared Fernandez: “Carcinogenic Compounds Created by the Vaporization of Electronic Cigarette Liquid: Effects of Variable Voltage within the Modified Electronic Cigarette”

Fernandez’s research, outlined briefly above, hypothesized that there would be positive correlation between the voltage setting of the modified E-cig and the amount of carcinogens within the vapor produced from one modified E-cig design. While no detectable amounts of carcinogens were produced in his data set, Fernandez found that the content of the vapor is significantly different depending on the voltage. Furthermore, increased voltage may increase inflammatory responses in human lungs regardless of flavoring additives due to increased concentrations within inhaled vapors. These findings suggest additional research is required to further characterize E-cig effects on human health. Committee members: Drs. and .