STEPHEN SACCO
Staff Writer
The Office of Creative Activity and Research provides Fredonia’s students and faculty with the opportunities to successfully conduct research.
Students who have conducted research in the past have gone onto present their research at SUNY-wide conferences and other venues. In fact, in 2017, the Western SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference was hosted on Fredonia’s campus. Every Spring, students present their research in the Williams Center.
John Croxton is the director of OSCAR and chair of the psychology department on campus. Croxton formed OSCAR ten years ago in order to expand the disciplines of research.
He believes the best way to start one’s research is as follows.
“If a student would want get involved in research, their best strategy is to find a mentor in their home department . . . and talk to someone in their department,” said Croxton.
Students control the process and impact of their research.
“We develop a research idea, they carry it out, they write up a final paper, and then make a presentation at conferences and that looks really good on a résumé,” said Croxton.
Croxton’s own publications involve attributions in the realm of social science. Attribution theory identifies how we act internally and externally in given scenarios.
Croxton urges art and music students to participate in research during their college careers. Interestingly enough, a current student is conducting research in the field of dance. They are focusing on how and why dancers have perfectionist tendencies.
Currently Croxton is mentoring Heather Han, a dual major in psychology and music therapy. Han focused her research on altruism, which is the idea that humans act in ways to benefit others, with no thought of receiving something in return.
“I wanna see how people, meaning college students, look at altruistic acts from the third person,” said Han.
Not only does OSCAR provide students and faculty with research opportunities, but also internships.
Mike Walker, a senior finance major, is the current marketing intern for the office.
“I contact students and professors about their research projects to set-up an interview after that. I post their research on social media to let their peers know about the great research being conducted in Fredonia,” said Walker.
OSCAR offers internships for all majors year-round.
Whether you’re a student working on a class or personal research project and don’t know where to start research, or looking for more opportunities to better your future after college, OSCAR is willing to help.
OSCAR is located in Thompson Hall Room W349 or contact them at (716) 673-3123.
Be sure to follow OSCAR on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at FredoniaOSCAR for information.