AU Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program

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Comment by kate woods on August 4, 2008 at 9:20pm

Alicia Hoover, a senior in communication disorders, is currently wrapping up her undergraduate reseasrch fellowship work this summer. She has been working the past year on research studying the volume levels of ipods and the correlation to hearing loss. Her research and data analysis is complete, but she is finsihing her final report on her findings from the study.
Each year, students apply to receive the Auburn University Undergraduate Research Fellowship, but only about 30 are granted the funds and supplies to conduct their research. Applications are due in February and the awards are announced in April of each year. Students do receive course credit for their work. During any semester, the amount of time performing research should be equivalent to that spent for an experiential practicum or for a 3 credit course that has 6 hours of laboratory.
Alicia has really enjoyed her work with the research fellowship. During the program, she met with her mentoring professor (a teacher in the communication disorders deaprtment) at least twice weekly to keep her on schedule with her paperwork and requirements through the department.
Her initial research was done through surveys on surveymonkey.com and facebook.com questioning pollers about how often they listen to their ipod and what volume setting was most used. Questions also asked how many hours per day were spent listening to music and during what activites (in the car, at the gym, or going to class...). After receiving over 300 replies, Alicia was ready to analyze her data and found that most people were not listening to their ipods too loudly. They were unaware, however, that there was in fact an usafe volume that could potentially cause long-term hearing loss. Alicia presented her findings to the board of fellowships and has attended two conferences to present her work.
Alicia encourages all students who have an interest in research and would like the opportunity to receive funds and supplies to apply and interview for the fellowship grant. She says that it is one of the best things she has done at Auburn and would definitely do it again.