Westmont Magazine How Students Spent Their Summer Vacation

Fourteen students shared their summer activities in September at A Celebration of Student Research. Projects included determining the physical structures responsible for working memory and investigating the angular mapping of cosmic muon flux over the sky. The students shared their findings on posterboards and answered questions.

Kirsten Holshausen ’07 investigated the efficiency of short-term medical missions to improve the health of the communities being served. Eileen McMahon, assistant professor of biology, assisted this interdisciplinary work. “It’s very unusual,” McMahon says. “This is a very liberal arts-based project coming out of theology, medical studies, biology, and bio-ethics.”

Holshausen plans to continue her research on future missions trips, including Potter’s Clay, Westmont’s annual spring break outreach to Ensenada, Mexico.

Although Westmont focuses solely on undergraduates, students still have an opportunity to engage in significant research projects. Professors often involve students in their own work or encourage them to pursue other interests.

“These students are doing high-quality research that students at large research institutions would also be proud of,” McMahon says.