ARESTY  RUTGERS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL, VOLUME I, ISSUE III 
 

 

FOREWORD TO VOLUME I, ISSUE III  
ARESTY RUTGERS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL 

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Thank you for reading the third issue of the Aresty Rutgers Undergraduate Research 

Journal! I hope you enjoy exploring the variety and richness of the undergraduate 

research happening at Rutgers, from the analysis of 19th-century female writers to 

the binding of the vitamin D receptor, and everything in between.  

The Aresty RURJ was established to uplift, connect, and showcase the incredible un-

dergraduate research community at Rutgers. Undergraduate students are vital to the 

backbone of the research happening at this university and we are excited to provide 

a platform for students to share their work with the Rutgers community and beyond. 

This issue, and the past year and a half, has been undeniably marked by the COVID-

19 pandemic. Our authors and reviewers have gone above and beyond to continue 

their incredible work with our journal even throughout the challenges they faced 

during the lockdown and pandemic. Our authors had to adapt to conducting remote 

research and many wrote their manuscripts based on combinations of remote and 

in-person research findings. Our undergraduate reviewers participated in the fully 

virtual Reviewer Program and put their skills to work with their outstanding reviews 

on submitted manuscripts. Our graduate student and faculty reviewers were remark-

ably flexible and generous with their time and were instrumental in the growth of our 

authors and their manuscripts.  

I would also like to acknowledge the faculty advisors and principal investigators who 

served as mentors for our authors in their journey in research. Please continue to 

encourage your students to share their hard work and support them in their                

endeavors! 

Finally, this issue would not have been possible without the key contributions and 

fantastic work by the editorial team (including the Reviewer Program Director, Man-

aging Editor, Creative Director, and Chief Copy Editor), copy editors, Aresty Re-

search Center administrators, and the Rutgers Libraries team. Thank you everyone 

for your hard work!  

We hope the Aresty RURJ continues to grow and cement itself within the Rutgers 

research community and that our readers continue to follow our journey. 

ARESTY RURJ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, 

TANVI BANOTA