Elizabeth

Please provide a brief summary of your research.
My research looked at how factors beyond an individual school/teacher (such as recessions, state education budgets, and the time of year) affected success rates and fundraising outcomes in crowdfunding for public schools. Another significant part of my research was looking at equity in outcomes by community prosperity at the school and state levels. The final findings of my research provided some interesting understandings of how equity in crowdfunding is more complicated than it seems. Success rates correlate with e, and projects’ success rates varied significantly by the type of materials requested and the proportion of high-poverty students; but schools with higher levels of poverty were less negatively affected by recessions.

What made you initially interested in researching your project in particular?
After completing a comprehensive literature review of crowdfunding with Dr. Gerber through URAP, I wanted to dig in deeper to one particular niche. Education crowdfunding was particularly interesting because I’d seen a lot behind the scenes of school fundraising through my mom’s work, so it was neat to explore a different format of funding schools.

What made you interested in pursuing (interdisciplinary) research more broadly?
Research interests me because you get to spend so much time with a particular topic of interest – on the quarter system, it feels like you’ll only get to spend a week or two on a class topic you care about before it breezes by!

Describe your experiences with research thus far. Was it tricky? What skills do you think you’ve gained?
The hardest thing about research so far has been finding my initial footing – I got rejected from a few programs before I started with Dr. Gerber through URAP. It was difficult to not compare myself to friends who had smoother paths into research, but no two research journeys are truly comparable. Learning to understand that we’re on similar, but not the same, paths is a really important skill I constantly develop. You’ll always get to where you’re meant to be in the way that’s right for you, even if it’s not as fast as it feels like you want it to be!

Any tips or advice you have for students similar to you that are interested in pursuing undergraduate research?
Be persistent in every way! Email professors you’re interested in working with and keep emailing until you can connect & don’t let one ‘no’ discourage you. I know it’s a lot easier said than done, but getting back up once you’ve let the disappointment process is another step closer to your goal. Above everything else, persistence is what’s gotten me through every research issue from finding a mentor to software problems.

What is your most useless talent?
I’m ambidextrous, but only for doing winged eyeliner!