Looking into the obstacles that rural dementia can present to analyzing the evolution of Donald Trump’s populist rhetoric in presidential campaign speeches are just two of the projects that StFX students will study this summer at recipients of the RBC Foundation Undergraduate Internship.
Eight StFX students—Ashley Hatt, Jami Horne, Manoela Strehl, Mallory Long, Carly MacDonald, Harlee Melinchuk, Aidan Peters and Ailie Sullivan—have each received the $7,000 award that will provide 16 weeks of work.
“The RBC Foundation Undergraduate Internship will make it possible for me to complete crucial aspects of my research throughout the summer months. I am extremely passionate about this research because it hits close to home for myself, and so many other Nova Scotians,” says recipient Jami Horne of Windsor, NS, a fourth year Bachelor of Arts and Science in Health student supervised by Dr. Katie Aubrecht. Her research project is entitled "Rural Dementia Caregiving: A Community Life Story."
“In Nova Scotia, many people are caregivers for family members and friends living with dementia. Rural dementia care is shaped by historical, social, economic, cultural, and geographic structures and conditions that are distinct from urban environments,” she says. “The conditions of rural dementia care present obstacles that are different from those of urban care. A growing body of evidence on rural dementia caregiving exists in central and western Canada, yet little is known about the self-perceived needs of rural dementia caregivers in Nova Scotia.
“This summer, I will be conducting interviews with people who are family/friend caregivers for people living with dementia who reside in rural Nova Scotia areas. Along with the interviews, I will be conducting an archival review to learn about the social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures that shape community-based care giving in Nova Scotia. Through my research, I aim to better understand what role culture and history play in rural caregiving and determine barriers that rural caregivers may be facing,” she says.
“My grandma is an extraordinary caregiver for my grandfather who lives with dementia; they live on a farm in rural Pictou County, and I have witnessed firsthand the challenges that they face. My aim is to summarize the results of my research into a rural dementia caregiver lens/tool that includes questions for continuing care service delivery providers and practitioners to consider when working with this demographic.”
ANALYZING SPEECH RHETORIC
Ailie Sullivan, a fourth year honours political science student from Halifax, NS, is working on a project entitled, “Making America Populist Again: Analyzing the Evolution of Donald Trump’s Populist Rhetoric in Presidential Campaign Speeches in 2016 and 2020.”
“Its purpose is to analyze campaign speech rhetoric to determine how, and to what extent, former US President Donald Trump has evolved as a populist figure during his years in power. I will process a sample series of speech transcripts through an automated language detection coding system that identifies words and phrases commonly associated with populism to make this determination,” she says.
“Receipt of this award does, of course, grant me the ability to get a head start on my thesis before I enter into my fourth year, but there is a much wider purpose to my work and what it contributes to the academic field. I want my project to advance common understandings of what a populist is, who they represent, and how they manoeuvre through political environments. I am a firm believer that increased knowledge of politics in any capacity equips us to become more informed voters come the next election and years down the road. Fostering voter enthusiasm is critical, especially in an era characterized by mass uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Conducting research that could help achieve this goal means the world to me.”
She is supervised by Dr. Nathan Allen.
EXPERIENCE A HIGHLIGHT
“I feel very fortunate to be able to have this experience early on in my degree! I am just over a month in and I’ve already learned so much about the field of environmental economics. It’s extremely motivating working alongside faculty with years of experience in their respective fields. This opportunity will definitely be one of the highlights of my degree here at StFX,” says Carly MacDonald, a third year honours economics student from Antigonish, NS, supervised by Dr. Patrick Withey.
“The objective of my research is to analyze the impact of a cap and trade system on the environment and economic growth in Nova Scotia. I will use a Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model (CGE) to assess the impact emission trading schemes (ETS) has on GDP, industrial output, emission reduction and welfare. I will use current data on carbon pricing in Nova Scotia to set caps for the emissions trading schemes, and the model results can be directly compared to previous work that considered the potential impacts of a carbon tax on energy inputs. This comparison will provide reassurance as to which carbon price policy enables sustainable socioeconomic growth in Nova Scotia.”
AMAZING OPPORTUNITY
“Doing summer research is an amazing opportunity. I’m learning valuable skills and discovering areas of research that interest me. I’m passionate about fighting climate change, so doing research related to that is exciting,” says Mallory Long of Ottawa, ON, a third year joint honours economics and math student supervised by Dr. David Risk and Dr. Patrick Withey.
For her research, Ms. Long is using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate the environmental and economic effects of adding a tax on methane in British Columbia. She says methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas and reducing methane emissions is one of the most efficient strategies for fighting climate change. The model will determine the effect of different tax rates on GDP, emissions produced, and other variables.
Manoela Strehl of Porto Alegre, Brazil is a fourth year honours political science student who will spend the summer doing research on Canadian foreign policy towards Latin America. “I am specially interested in Canadian promotion of human rights and democracy in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras,” she says.
“With the help of my advisor, Dr. Yvon Grenier, I am looking at the circumstances in which Canada promotes human rights and democratic principles in these countries. For years, the Canadian government has been criticized for its inconsistent foreign policies towards the Americas. My goal is to understand the cause of such discrepancies in Canadian foreign policy towards Latin America, and why Canadian efforts to promote ideals of human rights and democracy do not appear to commensurate with the severity of human rights violations and democratic deficiencies in each country,” she says.
“I could not be happier and honoured to have received the RBC Foundation Award. Being born and raised in Brazil, I have always been interested in the unique politics of the continent. Since coming to Canada to pursue my degree in political science, I’ve been focusing my studies in democratization, often comparing the democracy I knew in Brazil and democracy here. This opportunity has allowed me to combine my main interests: Latin America, Canadian foreign policy, and challenges in democratization in the continent.”
RESEARCH INTERESTS
“As a recipient of the RBC Foundation Undergraduate Internship, I can research a topic that truly interests me and use this research for my honours thesis without worrying about the financial burden. Without this opportunity, I would not be able to dedicate the same amount of time and effort to my research as I can now, which will allow me to produce an honours thesis of significantly higher quality,” says Ashley Hatt of Fredericton, NB, a fourth year student pursuing a BA with honours in political science and a subsidiary in economics, who is supervised by Dr. Youngwon Cho.
On her work, she says, “Despite suffering a host of setbacks and perhaps even a greater number of dire warnings and predictions about its demise, the US dollar has remained dominant as the world's reserve currency since the end of WWII. My research aims to explain American monetary hegemony by examining its political foundations. The relative decline of the US economy has created a discrepancy between the underlying economic capabilities of the US and the continued hegemony of its dollar. This research projects seeks to explain that disjuncture by analysing the role of both relational and structural power in upholding the US dollar's reserve currency status.”
Aidan Peters, a fourth year honours psychology student, says through the RBC Foundation Undergraduate Internship, he has been able to work with SHEA Lab and its collaborators for the summer.
“Supervised by Dr. Kara Thompson, I am, one, helping with the transition of an empirically supported, personality-based drug addiction prevention program (UniVenture) from the high school to the undergraduate population; two, working on my thesis, which will be focused on the risks associated with using cannabis to cope with depression/anxiety; and, three miscellaneous lab tasks.
“Receiving the RBC Foundation Undergraduate Internship grant is valuable for allowing me to focus on my own research and gain lab experience.”
Harlee Melinchuk of Edmonton, AB, a fourth year honours economics student, will study the interrelationship of socioeconomic status and the health behaviour of substance use, particularity illicit drugs. She is supervised by Dr. Fraser Summerfield.
“This opportunity will allow me to expand my knowledge and skills related to my degree, and, to gain insight on a subject of great personal interest to myself. As well as make a meaningful contribution to an issue that has widespread societal and governmental implications,” she says.
This research is, in part, made possible by the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.
