I am a first-year student at UNH, and although I have been working with the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research as a member of the journal Inquiry’s editorial board for only a brief period of time, the experience has already had a large impact on my life and has created opportunities that I would not have had otherwise. One of these opportunities was to work on this article about undergraduate international research programs supported by the Hamel Center. In 1997, ten years after its first grants were awarded for undergraduate research on the UNH campus, the Hamel Center established the International Research Opportunities Program (IROP). IROP was the first program of its kind in the nation, and since 1997 UNH undergraduates have traveled to over fifty different countries to conduct independent research through IROP and the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Abroad program. When I began learning about the international research programs, I was unsure of how these programs were different from university study abroad programs, but I learned how unique the Hamel Center programs are in the sense that they give undergraduate students an opportunity to understand how real-world research works as well as an insider view to all these different cultures.
Both IROP and SURF Abroad provide financial support for undergraduates to conduct research full-time over the summer months and conclude with presentations at the International Undergraduate Research Symposium each fall. IROP and SURF Abroad have long-lasting impacts on students from academic, cultural, and professional standpoints. To learn more about these programs, I first contacted and had the privilege of speaking with Georgeann Murphy, who was the Hamel Center’s international research coordinator from 2001 to 2020. I visited Murphy at her home in Madbury, New Hampshire, where she shared memories of her work with the Hamel Center as well as reflections about her own days as a young teacher and researcher.
Murphy studied English and drama as an undergraduate student at Furman University. In graduate school at Tulane University, she completed a dissertation on Shakespeare’s play Love’s Labour’s Lost, focusing on how the classical era through the renaissance influenced the play. Later, after earning her master’s and Ph.D. at Tulane University, Murphy began a teaching career at a small college in Kentucky. There, her involvement with research lessened, because that school put more emphasis on teaching than on publishing new research.
When she first came to UNH in the 1990s, Murphy began by teaching courses in the humanities, but in 2001 she took a position with the Hamel Center as coordinator of the international undergraduate research programs. When she became more involved in undergraduate research through this position, she was at first skeptical of how well undergraduates would be able to handle the in-depth research projects that IROP and SURF Abroad entailed. However, she soon realized that these students were more than capable of conducting independent research—even in foreign countries.
Both the IROP and SURF Abroad programs require a minimum GPA, and there are many other expectations of these students as well. For example, in addition to preparing an extensive research proposal and planning a reasonable budget, they must research their host country and plan for any cultural adjustments that might be required, familiarize themselves with essential foreign language terms, and coordinate with their foreign mentor to find a place to live while abroad. I was very surprised and impressed to learn about these programs and how much support these students receive as well as the type of work ethic and determination that students must have to be successful in these programs. Working with undergraduate researchers had a big impact on Murphy too. She realized how capable and responsible undergraduate researchers could be. “These students are heroes,” she said. I asked Murphy to share a few memories of these researchers.
Nursing student Bri McGrath went to South Africa in 2019 to get a better understanding of how the health care system worked (read about her research here), and she found that she had learned just as much about the culture during her time there as about her actual research topic. Specifically, she gained a better understanding of racism within South Africa. Murphy mentioned another student “whose bassoon adventures in Milan were really memorable” (read about the impact of the bassoon adventures here) and a “superstar” student who started his research in Cairo, Egypt, and finished it in Amman, Jordan (read about his experience and its impact here).
IROP and SURF Abroad students are required to have faculty mentors from UNH as well as mentors from their international research location. The research mentors are experts in the fields that the undergraduate researchers are going into. While abroad, students in the IROP and SURF Abroad programs not only obtain more information for their specific project but also explore a new culture. Although mentors are a very large help throughout a student-researcher’s project, it is mostly up to the researchers to hold themselves responsible for making the most of their time while abroad. “They have to have a certain degree of courage because so much of undergraduate research is self-directed,” Murphy explained.
The Hamel Center shared information about some former researchers that demonstrate this courage. Alana Gudinas, a former physics student who researched in Switzerland and France through IROP, had the opportunity to solve an issue with lab equipment that had stumped the graduate students in the lab she was visiting, even though one of those grad students told her that attempting the task wouldn’t be worth the time. Gudinas proved him wrong, and she said “it was immensely satisfying” to put to the test what she had learned and realize the expertise she had gained. Emma Clarke, another physics student, studied in India through IROP. She appreciated experiencing the different style of teaching and mentoring that she encountered abroad. She said it was “very enlightening to see how things that might seem very standard can be done differently, and then you can learn what methods work best for you and what you want to look for in future work environments.” Clarke also appreciated that her research site and colleagues in India helped her structure her exploration of the culture with support and guidance, which has made her more confident in traveling solo now.
I wanted to talk in person to a former UNH student who had done international research, and Murphy suggested I contact Fran Gesel. Gesel traveled to Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada to conduct research in the field of exercise science at McMaster University as a SURF Abroad awardee. Gesel originally became involved in undergraduate research as a sophomore through the McNair Scholars Program, which helps first-generation college students with financial need and underrepresented students get involved with research. This led Gesel to look for more undergraduate research opportunities, and he discovered SURF Abroad through the Hamel Center. Gesel appreciated the many connections that he made throughout his time researching in Canada. He feels that the SURF Abroad experience will certainly help him on a graduate school application when he eventually pursues this. Throughout his time in Canada, Gesel found that the quality of his time at the research lab was the most memorable part of his experience. He called the research that he did through the Hamel Center a “moving experience.”
The Hamel Center has helped many students like Gesel to gain experience in research as undergraduates. The Hamel Center’s work goes beyond its research grant programs. Working on the journal Inquiry's student editorial board has helped me to explore what I would like to major in. I have gained real-life experience as an editor and writer and I have realized that I want to pursue a career in those fields. Working for the Inquiry board also has given me a greater appreciation for the work that goes into undergraduate research. Even though I would feel nervous about conducting research abroad, I would also feel excited about being able to experience a new culture while researching a topic that I was interested in. The Hamel Center has even given staff members like Georgeann Murphy a new view on undergraduate research and on the strength of knowledge undergraduates own.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, international research programs have been on hiatus since 2020, when Murphy retired. However, the Hamel Center looks forward to restarting these important research opportunities soon.
