Insights from the intersection of research and English
Student Hailey Richards is a research assistant on a team examining the experiences of patients who have received blood from people vaccinated from COVID-19.
A Virginia Tech English major is learning more about the human dimensions of infectious disease through a hands-on research experience.
Hailey Richards recently joined as an undergraduate research assistant for a team led by Julie Gerdes, assistant professor of technical and professional writing and rhetoric in the Department of English, and Heidi Lawrence, a collaborator and graduate of the department’s rhetoric and writing doctorate program. Lawrence is now an associate professor at George Mason University.
“As English majors, there’s more confusion about the different directions you can go into, especially when it comes to analysis and things like that,” Richards said. “But the position was for a rhetorical study, which I thought was really compelling.”
Gerdes, along with faculty and students from Virginia Tech and George Mason, is researching patient experiences and perspectives on receiving blood from donors who received COVID-19 vaccines. Richards and an undergraduate student at George Mason were hired under a 4-VA collaborative research grant focused on the human dimensions of infectious disease.
Richards, a junior who is also majoring in political science, has always been interested in health care policies. Even so, she said the position did not immediately seem to overlap with her coursework.
“Immediately after interviewing, I was a bit concerned that I was in over my head,” she said. “This is a field I’m not entirely versed in. It’s infectious disease. There’s a lot of different departments working on this.”
But she said the team’s diversity is part of what makes the project fun, adding that history and biology majors are also involved.
“Having that team and being able to discuss the research results with a bunch of different people with a lot of different backgrounds is helpful and also offers a wide range of perspectives,” she said. “And I thought that was really appealing.”
Gerdes said bringing Richards on board also contributed to the diversity of thought in the team.
“When I interviewed her for the position, she talked about her interest in policy, which has not been the focus of the project, but certainly a really important implication of it,” Gerdes said. “I think that unique consideration of policy has helped us think about the project differently, helped us think about our findings in a way that could extend beyond just what we’re seeing, but what it could mean for changing some of the policies of the hospital system that we’re working with.”
Beyond policy implications, there is a human aspect to the project that Richards was surprised by.
“I went into it knowing that I’m not going to be on one side either way, I’m going to look at this very analytically,” Richards said.“But I remember after listening to the first couple transcripts, I empathized with the people in the transcripts a lot more than I thought, which is interesting. It’s something that I originally didn’t feel that connected to. But because it was COVID, it was something we all experienced. And a lot of the stories were about their own experiences with COVID and life.”
This connection with the stories was something Richards found valuable. In the end, beyond any judgements or opinions, she thought the important thing was to have empathy for people on both sides of the conversation.
Richards’ responsibilities are focused on transcribing interviews and coding them for themes.
“It’s primarily remote — a lot of working on my own, just filtering through things,” she said.
The project is currently focused on its upcoming publication. Each student and faculty team member will co-author a chapter in a book, which will come out next year through Virginia Tech publishing. Richards’ chapter will focus on findings from interviews with patients who had concerns about blood transfusions.
She was also a member of the team that presented at the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens Infectious Disease Research Symposium held at Virginia Tech in October.
When asked how she manages her responsibilities, Richards laughed. Along with this position, she also juggles her coursework and three on-campus jobs.
“There’s definitely a lot going on right now,” Richards said. “But it’s really been a lot about planning, setting aside time. That is something that’s really great about this position, because it is very flexible.”
“Hailey is very enthusiastic,” Gerdes said. “She shows up always very, very prepared. It’s a really nice collaborative interaction between her, myself, and the rest of the team.”
Written by Phoebe Hayashi, a professional and technical writing major in the Department of English
