Work-Study Research Assistant Program

Faculty Name: Mars Plater

Faculty Department: History

General Research Focus: Stamford has many old cemeteries that have fallen into disrepair, and I am part of a local committee working to preserve them for historical and ecological reasons. We want to bring these cemeteries into a network of “pollinator pathways”—places where hummingbirds and bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects can find tasty plants and flowers indigenous to this region, even in our busy city. 

Brief Position Description: As a research assistant, you would conduct research about Stamford’s cemeteries and how other cities have managed their old cemeteries, and pollinator pathways. You would find information through online searches, in databases full of historical documents, and in archives at the Ferguson Library and the City Clerk’s office. You would then write short reports to share what you learned with the committee. You would be welcome to attend meetings with the committee and get to know people working on this project.

As a research assistant, you would conduct research about Stamford’s cemeteries and how other cities have managed their old cemeteries, and pollinator pathways. You would find information through online searches, in databases full of historical documents, and in archives at the Ferguson Library and the City Clerk’s office. You would then write short reports to share what you learned with the committee. You would be welcome to attend meetings with the committee and get to know people working on this project.

Student Learning:

-Collaboration: This committee is made up of staff and elected officials from local government, ecologists, historians, historical preservationists, and community members. While I would be your mentor and key point-person for the project, you would meet the team and see how people from various fields can work together.
   
   -Database management: We will be keeping a database of information about each cemetery, so you would learn how to add your notes to it.
   
   -Historical research: Some of these cemeteries have a mysterious past, and you would learn how to find out when they started being used, who was buried there, and when they fell out use by searching newspaper databases and looking through old records in the municipal archives.
   
   -How to summarize research into reports: Rather than writing formal essays based on your research, you would produce short reports that the team can digest easily and quickly—practicing a skill used in many workplaces.