Neda here, tapping a quick end-of-summer blog post to show sincere appreciation for two of our undergraduate RAs, Mohamed Afify and Fatima Al Saadie, who were so active on RISE Team this summer.
I'm lucky to have met Afify and Fatima since their earliest undergrad days in our department's required SOC 221 (Logic of Social Inquiry) course. They began their first RAships on this project in Summer 2017 and Summer 2018, respectively. Back when our project was a small pilot study without a catchy name! Their presence at this initial stage inspired me to write the grant proposals that became our full-scale RISE project.
Beyond Afify and Fatima's important research assistance in Summer 2019 (transcribing and translating our Winter 2019 audio files from Arabic to English), they were front and centre representing RISE Team at 3 different outreach activities:
(1) a "Visions of Science" event for grade 8-12 students organized by UTM's Experiential Education Unit on July 17;
(2) two research presentations to youth and educators from China in residence at UTM's Learn to Lead program, led by Professor Liz Coulson in late July (photographed above); and
(3) a presentation on stage (!) at UTM's Smarti Gras event celebrating undergraduate research excellence on August 14.
In Professor Coulson's words, Afify and Fatima's interactions with the youth were "so positive, affirming, and patient" and the visiting Learn to Lead educators "commented many times how impressed they were with [the] work and its focus." The two RAs worked together brilliantly to brainstorm, plan, and execute these outreach activities.
As we round the bend on their last years in our undergrad program, both RAs are pursuing offshoots from RISE Team data for their independent capstone projects, to be profiled on our blog in the future!
Thank you for making this such a special summer, "Team Smarti Gras" -- Neda
I'm lucky to have met Afify and Fatima since their earliest undergrad days in our department's required SOC 221 (Logic of Social Inquiry) course. They began their first RAships on this project in Summer 2017 and Summer 2018, respectively. Back when our project was a small pilot study without a catchy name! Their presence at this initial stage inspired me to write the grant proposals that became our full-scale RISE project.
Beyond Afify and Fatima's important research assistance in Summer 2019 (transcribing and translating our Winter 2019 audio files from Arabic to English), they were front and centre representing RISE Team at 3 different outreach activities:
(1) a "Visions of Science" event for grade 8-12 students organized by UTM's Experiential Education Unit on July 17;
(2) two research presentations to youth and educators from China in residence at UTM's Learn to Lead program, led by Professor Liz Coulson in late July (photographed above); and
(3) a presentation on stage (!) at UTM's Smarti Gras event celebrating undergraduate research excellence on August 14.
In Professor Coulson's words, Afify and Fatima's interactions with the youth were "so positive, affirming, and patient" and the visiting Learn to Lead educators "commented many times how impressed they were with [the] work and its focus." The two RAs worked together brilliantly to brainstorm, plan, and execute these outreach activities.
As we round the bend on their last years in our undergrad program, both RAs are pursuing offshoots from RISE Team data for their independent capstone projects, to be profiled on our blog in the future!
Thank you for making this such a special summer, "Team Smarti Gras" -- Neda