In summer 2022, three undergraduate students at Kent State took on major projects alongside faculty members, seeking to identify real solutions to real problems faced by marginalized populations across the country and across the globe. Here are their experiences!
Kristen DiCresce 
Kristen DiCresce is a senior Public Health student assisting Dr. Bethany Lanese with her work evaluating the THRIVE program, a Stark County initiative through Canton City Public Health aimed at reducing the disparity of infant mortality between Black and white babies through the assignment of Community Health Workers. Kristen has gotten the opportunity to assist with the creation of two literature reviews, as well as deciphering and coding interview-data on care quality and the efficacy of CHW intervention. An anti-racist perspective of research pairs nicely with the Public Health idea of prioritizing prevention, not just treatment. Kristen has seen how social support can serve as a primordial prevention of negative outcomes. This means it gives the patients, or moms, tools to better help protect or remove themselves from the environments in which diseases can grow, or, where health determinants often created or exacerbated by racism can put them at risk. It is Kristen's belief that this means prioritizing the mother’s health and voice in these programs and research, not just her baby’s. Kristen's goal is to graduate from Kent State with Honors as well as a Community Health Worker certificate and attend Kent State's Global Health Immersion program where students get to be delegates to the World Health Assembly. She would also like to complete her Masters in Public Health and pursue a job within health-care, research, and social work.
Jacqueline Jackson 
Jacqueline Johnson is a second-year aeronautics student working under the guidance of Dr. Stephanie Fussell. This summer, Jacqueline was tasked with learning how to code in order to create virtual backgrounds for virtual reality (VR). Jacqueline's research is on how to better implement VR and simulation into accredited flight training, which could make becoming a pilot/etc/ more attainable for students of color and/or of lower socioeconomic status, in place of traditional instruction. This would also be a good step toward ridding the aviation community of bias and negative perceptions of POC, as well as closing the pilot shortage by opening up the field to all backgrounds of people and redefining the industry through the nurturing of new ideas. Jacqueline's future goals are to graduate with a bachelor's and start a master's degree in aviation and aerospace sustainability. Jacqueline would love to have a career as a cargo pilot but would also be happy just by entering the aviation industry in whatever capacity she can.
Naidi Valverde-Romero 
Naidi Valverde-Romero is a senior at Kent State majoring in International Relations and minoring in Chinese. She is currently working with Dr. Sara Koopman through the SURE program on a project archiving blogs that document international protective accompaniment in Colombia. Naidi is also a member of the first cohort of SURE students supported by the Anti-Racism and Equity Institute. The Institute is a research collaborative that advances racial justice through research and scholarship. The research Naidi assisted with over the summer was working to understand the ways in which race, gender, internationality, etc. interconnect and affect the ways in which peacemaking is accomplished. Upon graduation, Naidi plans to pursue a master's in library sciences with a focus on archival studies.
