Congratulations to Zoe Robbin, URP’s featured undergraduate student researcher for the month of April! Zoe is currently a senior and is the first-place winner of the first annual URP 3-minute thesis competition.
**How did you get started in undergraduate research?**
I got started in undergraduate research when I was a sophomore. I networked a lot with my professors and developed a lot of relationships with them. My first experience as part of a developed research team was when I was able to assist with writing a systematic review of conception strategies for people living with HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. It was a great experience and highly recommend undergraduate to develop relationships with your professors because you never know when they might need assistance from an undergraduate.
**What motivated you to select your specific research topic?**
The research topic that I presented for the 3-minute thesis was about the influence of tribal networks on the sanctioning of sexual harassment at a Jordanian university. In English, that just means I was looking at who does or does get punished from the university and who is or isn’t safe to report sexual harassment incidence at this university. I selected this topic based on a relationship that I built a professor at Rollins. I was working as part of her research team prior to writing my thesis, but I knew that I had an interesting perspective given my background in studying Arabic and I knew that I could approach it from a historical perspective and develop my thesis around tribalism. So, I was able to develop my own research topic as part of this larger cohort of researchers.
**What are your current and future plans with your research?**
Currently, I am working on converting my thesis into a publication. After, I hope to continue to do public health research. I really enjoy doing more violence and social norms-based research in public health with my senior thesis. In the future, I hope to look more at access to health care and health system because I am really interested in how different institutions and how we shape them can impact different people.
**What was your experience with developing/delivering your three-minute thesis?**
My experience developing the 3-minute thesis was more similar to my experience in mock trial than my experience defending my thesis. It felt like more of a speech and thought that the experience was especially useful for undergraduates who really need to learn how to market their research and develop a quick-pitch. From my relationships and knowledge of professional academia and research, it’s all about getting interest in your topic quickly. I think this competition has a lot of value at Emory.
Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Independent Research Grants.
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