Elizabethtown College students gained valuable experience this summer, working closely with faculty and staff mentors on campus to perform independent student research as part of the Summer Creative Arts and Research Program (SCARP) program.
“My faculty mentor, Dr. (Evan) Smith (Associate Professor of Psychology) has been great from the beginning, as he was the one to confirm this could be conducted and become a reality,” Kyla Carpenter ’25 said. “He guided me through the steps of conducting research and helped me gain a more hands-on understanding of psychological research. Whenever I felt stuck on what to do next, he always had more ideas and directions to go in.”
Through our Summer SCARP Series initiative, we covered 22 of these hands-on student-led research projects, ranging from a Music Therapy major positively impacting the lives of local veterans to a Computer Science major developing an app that helps runners improve form and prevent injury.
SCARP was created to support independent student scholarship under the sponsorship of a faculty or staff 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/staff scholars and researchers also benefit from student involvement in support of professional scholarship and research agendas.
“This was my fifth SCARP project and it allows me to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the field and collaborate with talented individuals, including both students and fellow faculty members,” Elizabethtown College Assistant Professor of Computer Science Peilong Li said. “Being part of a research project ensures that I continue to learn and grow professionally, which benefits both my teaching and personal development.”
Learn more about this Summer’s SCARP Projects through an interactive recap of student research.