Elizabethtown College students are gaining valuable experience this summer, working closely with faculty mentors on campus to perform independent student research as part of the Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP) program.
Over the next several weeks, we’ll highlight several of these exciting, student-led research projects through our 2021 Etown Summer SCARP Series. Learn more about the program below.
What is SCARP?
SCARP was created to support independent student research under the sponsorship of a faculty mentor. 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 scholars and researchers also benefit from student involvement in support of professional scholarship and research agendas.
“Some of these projects have the potential to really change people’s lives, such as through a better prosthetic arm or an inexpensive test for lead in drinking water,” remarked Susan Mapp, Professor of Social Work at Etown and a coordinator for the SCARP program.
“Many of the opportunities that Etown students have would be reserved for graduate students at larger institutions, but here we have students who have just finished their first year completing hands-on research this summer. Students are then able to parlay this experience and the skills they develop into sought-after jobs and graduate school acceptances.”
What do students receive for participating?
Students receive a training stipend, free room and board for the duration of their projects (from 3 to 10 weeks), and a 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.
What projects are students working on this summer?
A full list of research projects can be found on the SCARP homepage. Previous projects can be found on the JayScholar @ Etown page.