Four Northwestern students chosen for summer research and study programs

Pictured from left to right are Sierra Tumbleson, Emily Schmidt, Clara Pahl and Abigail Bastian.

Four Northwestern College students were selected for competitive off-campus research and study programs this summer.

Sierra Tumbleson, a senior theatre major from Trimont, Minnesota, was awarded a paid summer fellowship through the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) of Northwestern University. SROP is a competitive research experience for undergraduate students interested in pursuing a doctoral degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Approximately 25 students were chosen for the program, which will be held from June 20 through Aug. 5.

Tumbleson was also one of just 40 people nationwide to win two summer apprenticeships with the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston. In 2021, her initial summer in the program, she worked with a professional actress from Los Angeles and took various master classes, including one with Anthony Rapp from the original Broadway cast of “Rent.” Because of her selection for SROP this summer, her second summer with the Shakespeare Company has been postponed to 2023. Tumbleson was also chosen to participate in Yale University’s Indigenous Performing Arts Program May 15–18, where she was offered three acting roles.

Emily Schmidt is a senior from Bellevue, Nebraska, majoring in genetics, molecular biology and cellular biology. She was chosen to participate in the Summer Research Institute hosted by Creighton University’s Center for Promoting Health and Health Equity and the university’s Health Sciences Multicultural and Community Affairs Department. Schmidt will be researching the preventative effects of various FDA-approved drugs, such as Tamiflu, on hearing loss related to cisplatin chemotherapy.

Clara Pahl spent June 6–10 at Wheaton College’s fifth annual Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Symposium. A junior from Ames, Iowa, majoring in psychology and English teaching, she was one of 14 students selected from more than 180 institutions affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). Accepted students received a scholarship stipend and interacted with other college thinkers who share a passion for cross-disciplinary study and problem-solving.

Pahl was also one of 25 CCCU students accepted into the council’s Oxford Summer Programme. During her four weeks in England June 17 through July 18, she will study creative writing, as well as art and criticism in the 19th century.

Finally, Abigail Bastian is one of two Sioux Falls-area students chosen to work in the genomic lab of South Dakota’s Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center. She is spending eight weeks conducting research with molecular and experimental medicine designed to treat breast and ovarian cancer. Bastian is a junior from Brandon, South Dakota, majoring in genetics, molecular biology and cellular biology.