About the OSR

At Roosevelt University, students ask significant questions. They seek answers through research and creative inquiry.  They share and apply their knowledge in ways that actualize the university’s mission of creating socially conscious citizens.  Roosevelt encourages this engagement from the moment you arrive on campus.

Through fellowships and learning opportunities, the Office of Student Research aim to foster students’ disciplinary competencies as well as various transferable skills, including leadership, collaboration, active learning, critical thinking, intellectual independence, and creative problem solving. Our website is intended to be a hub for information about developing and funding research. We welcome you to browse through and learn more about research and creative inquiry activities around the university, the city and beyond!

We also welcome students at any stage of the research or creative inquiry process to participate in OSR workshops, graduate student talks and  student working groups. We also welcome students seeking guidance to set up meetings, to learn about students’ goals and discuss the best path forward. During individual meetings, staff will review proposals, work through ideas, connect you with resources, and help identify mentors.

Director: Dr. Laura Nussbaum-Barberena

Laura Nussbaum-Barberena, PhD is a socio-cultural anthropologist with a long career in fostering student research and inquiry engagement, as well as conducting research in partnership with community and policy-focused organizations focused on transforming systems that perpetuate exclusion. 

 

Graduate Fellows

Victoria Marie Limon, MSc, MPH, PsyD Student – Victoria is from South Texas and is currently a third-year clinical psychology doctoral student at Roosevelt and has worked with the OSR since Fall 2019. Her primary research and clinical interests include working with the forensic population, including current and former inmates and parolees. As a future clinical psychologist, she is interested in finding the best forms of treatment for individuals with severe mental illness and substance use disorders. She hopes to make a positive impact by helping this population with symptom management and preventing relapse and recidivism, while also working towards ending the stigma on mental illness.

Faith O'Leary is currently a third-year student in the Organizational Psychology MA program at Roosevelt University and has worked with the OSR since Fall 2020. Faith received her BA in Psychology from Roosevelt and was a McNair Scholar while attending. Faith's academic work focuses on addressing institutional impacts on feelings of shame and pride. Faith is also passionate about inclusivity in higher education and developed the OSR's graduate fellow podcase, The Podgrads, which focuses on demystifying research, graduate school and academic careers while exploring the roots and forms that exclusion takes. 

Vanessa Ayala, PsyD student. Vanessa is in her first year in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Roosevelt University. Vanessa is a peer mentor, in addition to her work as a graduate fellow in the OSR. Vanessa completed her BA at Roosevelt University, where she was a McNair Scholar and a Peer Mentor. Vanessa will be supporting outreach and content development for the OSR  related to the Research & Inquiry fellowships, as well as external fellowships and opportunities.

 

Upcoming Opportunities

Research Courses:

Community-based Research and Environmental Justice Course: (SUST / SOC / POS 262 Environmental Justice): This summer of 2025, Roosevelt’s Office of Student Research and Department of Law, Society, & Sustainability will support 8-10 undergraduate students in a Community-based Research and Environmental Justice course (CREJ). A cohort-based summer research experience based here in Chicago, this competitive fellowship includes tuition funding for a 3-credit EXL/research-focused urban sustainability and environmental justice course on selected Fridays (9:30am-1pm) from June 6 through August 1 during RU’s 8-week summer session. In addition to a tuition waiver for the course, students will receive a small stipend to help defray travel costs from RU’s Chicago Campus to our community organization partner. 

Community-based Research and Environmental Justice Course (SUST / SOC / POS 262 Environmental Justice) This summer of 2025, Roosevelt's Office of Student Research and Department of Law, Society, & Sustainability will support 8-10 undergraduate students in a Community-based Research and Environmental Justice course (CREJ). A cohort-based summer research experience based here in Chicago, this competitive fellowship includes tuition funding for a 3-credit EXL/research-focused urban sustainability and environmental justice course on selected Fridays (9:30am-1pm) from June 6 through August 1 during RU's 8-week summer session. In addition to a tuition waiver for the course, students will receive a small stipend to help defray travel costs from RU's Chicago Campus to our community organization partner.

During this summer's Community-based Research and Environmental Justice course, undergraduate students will participate in a hands-on and field-based introduction to urban sustainability and selected research and analytic methods in the humanities and social sciences. Students will gain experience doing community-based research (CBR) in collaboration with the Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF), one of Chicago's oldest grassroots conservation and environmental justice organizations. In addition, they will synthesize their findings and have opportunities to present their work at events such as Roosevelt's annual Student Research and Inquiry Symposium (RSRIS).

Based in the Hegewisch neighborhood on Chicago's Southeast Side, the Southeast Environmental Task Force has advocated since the 1980s for the people and ecosystems of the culturally and biologically diverse Calumet industrial region that spans Chicago's far South Side, near south suburbs, and communities of northwest Indiana. SETF's current initiatives and activism include several key issues within urban sustainability: climate and environmental justice advocacy; pollution reduction; clean energy policy; land use and sustainable development; green space conservation; and public health.

Student applicants may be from any major and should have completed at least 15 hours of college credit; have earned a C or better in ENG 102; and have an interest in learning about community-based research, urban sustainability, and/or environmental justice.

Eligibility

  • Current Roosevelt University undergraduate student in any college or major (except those graduating in May 2025)
  • At least 15 credit hours completed at the time of application, including earning a C or better in ENG 102 (or, if currently taking ENG 102 this spring, a recommendation from the instructor is required)
  • GPA of at least 2.0 overall (2.5 minimum preferred)
  • Interest in learning about urban sustainability, doing applied research in the humanities and/or social sciences, working collaboratively with a local environmental organization, and exploring the neighborhoods, natural areas, and industrial landscape of Chicago's historic Southeast Side

Fellowship Requirements and Benefits

  • Participate in an 8-week interdisciplinary hybrid seminar on selected Fridays 9:30am-1pm and online on Blackboard from June 6 through Aug 1. Class meetings will be at RU's Chicago Campus and at selected field locations on Chicago's Southeast Side. Online work is required in addition to the scheduled class and field trip sessions.
  • Work effectively as individuals, in small teams, and in collaboration with our community-based organization partner (the Southeast Environmental Task Force).
  • Earn 3 EXL course credits toward graduation (SUST / SOC / POS 262 Environmental Justice).
  • Gain first-hand knowledge of the remarkable people, industrial sites, and natural areas of a truly unique area of Chicago.

Application Info: Apply here for Community-based Research and Environmental Justice Course Fellowship (deadline beginning April 18th, 2025; application review will begin April 11).

Students do not need to register for the course. All students will be notified about their application status once applications are reviewed. Students accepted to the CREJ program will be registered for the course by the Office of Student Research and at that time, tuition will be paid by the OSR. For questions or more information, please contact:

  • Mike Bryson (mbryson@roosevelt.edu), SUST Professor and Chair of the Department of Law, Society, & Sustainability
  • Laura Nussbaum-Barberena (lnussbaumbarberena@roosevelt.edu), Director of the Office of Student Research and the Policy Research Collaborative