Donors ensure student research doesn't have to wait
Ioana Tiu presents her research on “Utilizing Deepfake Technology to Protect Children”
during the First-year Research Immersion program’s poster session at the Innovative
Technologies Complex in December 2021. More than 500 first- and second-year students
from all 10 FRI streams participate in the poster session each year. Image Credit: Jonathan Cohen.
First-year Research Immersion (FRI) is a program Denise B. Birnbaum ’73 said she would have loved to have experienced as a student.
So, she made a gift to support it, establishing the Denise (Frank) Birnbaum FRI Science
Endowment to enhance the program and give students opportunities to conduct hands-on,
scientific research right away, during their first year at .
With this support, students could receive invaluable summer research grants, travel
resources to present at regional and national conferences or critical funding to buy
supplies or equipment for their projects, to name some examples.
FRI is special: It empowers first-year students to dive right into igniting their
passion for learning and discovery — without having to wait until later in their undergraduate
careers or until they’re graduate students to have authentic research experiences
alongside top faculty.
Birnbaum’s degree is in chemistry. Although she stayed on that path as
a graduate student at another university, she said she “felt unwelcome.” “I had professors
say, ‘I don’t know why there are women in my class.’” She switched to library science
and made a career of it, retiring from the field in 2012.
FRI students recently sent their appreciation to Birnbaum in the form of a Shutterfly
“thank-you card shower” that she received in the mail. The interdisciplinary topics
of their research stood out, she said.
“I hope more students get the opportunity to participate,” Birnbaum said. “It really
seemed to have changed their lives. The students I knew when I was at would’ve
loved to have done this (FRI) but didn’t have the opportunity.”
Megan Fegley, MAT ’13, PhD ’14, First-year Research Immersion program director —
Students exit our FRI program with so many vital workforce skills, clarification of
their future path, valuable connections with faculty and fellow students, and much
more. We are so grateful to donors for enabling us to continue providing students
with this unique and highly mentored experience.
