Many undergraduate students dream of co-authoring a journal paper. For Michael Finch (BSc ’20), that dream became reality as he completed the final year of his Health Sciences program in 2020.<\/p>\n
Assistant Professor of Health Sciences Rebecca MacPherson told him about a special grant being offered by the federal government\u2019s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) \u2014 and Finch went for it.<\/p>\n
He successfully received a grant last year under NSERC\u2019s Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)<\/a> program, enabling him to join MacPherson\u2019s research team last summer.<\/p>\n He, along with senior graduate students, subsequently published an article in the Journal of Applied Physiology<\/em> that reviewed an earlier paper.<\/p>\n Now in his first year of a master\u2019s program in Health Sciences, Finch is urging undergraduate students to apply for funding in this year\u2019s USRA competition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity, especially for people who want to get into research, into the lab and make a future career out of it,\u201d says Finch adding that, for him, it was a strong \u201cbridge point\u201d that led to him pursuing his master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n USRA grants are meant to nurture students\u2019 interests in, and fully develop their potential for, a research career in the natural sciences and engineering. The grant program also aims to encourage undergrads to pursue graduate studies in those fields.<\/p>\n In addition to co-authoring a paper, Finch researched how changes in genes are related to mitochondria in fat cells as a part of a larger project with Professor of Kinesiology Brian Roy studying creatine supplementation and obesity.<\/p>\n \u201cMany fundamental research skills are learned and refined through mentorship,\u201d says Brock\u2019s Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. \u201cThis fund fosters undergraduate students\u2019 curiosity and gives them valuable professional experience that can launch them into a research career.\u201d<\/p>\n The funding, valued at $6,000, provides 16 consecutive, full-time weeks of research employment that complements students\u2019 undergraduate studies in an academic setting. There are 23 grants available in this year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n NSERC and Brock University are encouraging qualified Indigenous students to apply for this award.<\/p>\n The application is a two-part process. Students fill out the USRA Application Form Part A<\/a>.<\/strong> Supervisors fill out the USRA Application Form Part B<\/a>.<\/strong> More details can be found in the USRA Applicant Guidelines 2021<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n