Elizabethtown College students are gaining high-impact experiences this summer, working closely with faculty and staff mentors on campus to perform independent student research as part of the annual Summer Creative Arts and Research Program (SCARP).
This summer, over 30 Blue Jays are pursuing their creative passions and exploring their research interests across more than 20 hands-on, student-led projects. Throughout the next several weeks, our Etown 2025 SCARP Series will showcase their exciting work, from using the benefits of music therapy to assess cognition in older adults to analyzing the chemical profiles of store-bought and local honey.
View an interactive recap of last year’s SCARP projects and learn more about the program below.
What is SCARP?
SCARP is an opportunity for undergraduate students in any major to work directly with a full-time faculty/staff mentor to complete supervised research or creative projects over the summer. The program is a non-credit experiential learning program designed to enhance professional skills and provide a competitive advantage to participating students in the pursuit of career opportunities and graduate studies.
Participating faculty/staff scholars and researchers also benefit from student involvement in support of professional scholarship and research agendas.
What do students receive for participating?
Students receive a training stipend and free room and board for the duration of their projects (from 4 to 12 weeks), and professional experience as part of a scholarship/research community.
They also benefit from highly personalized mentoring from active researchers and scholars. SCARP also fulfills one of the two required Signature Learning Experiences (SLE) for Etown students.
New this summer: SCARP now features a part-time track for students who prefer to complete a smaller project (10 hours a week).
What is the result of this research?
Each summer, Etown students share their research projects at the annual Landmark Summer Research Symposium. This year’s 16th annual symposium is being hosted on Etown’s campus and will take place on July 10.
Hear from SCARP Participants
“Dr. (Jean) Batista has been a great mentor throughout my SCARP project. He was great at guiding me through everything the program offers and has helped me plan for each step through the project. Moreover, he was my second set of eyes on the project, allowing me to get another perspective on my work and know where to direct it next.” – Leif Hoffman ’26, Computer Engineering major
“I find one-on-one mentoring in the SCARP program to be extremely rewarding. The SCARP project helps facilitate honing my students’ research skills and introduces my students to the academic literature on European Studies and International Relations. This enables them to gain a well-rounded comprehension of the intricate aspects surrounding alliance politics and acquire a deeper understanding of the NATO Ally’s foreign policy interests in the region.” – Oya Dursun-Özkanca, Professor of Political Science and College Professor of International Studies (Endowed Chair)
“Dr. (Amy) Defnet has helped me immensely throughout this experience. She has explained everything that we have done in great detail, and she has no problem answering any questions that you may have. I have enjoyed working with her and learning her way around the lab.” – Emma Caszatt ’26, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major