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Research project has a very personal connection

By Barbara Hein

College of Saint Benedict junior Eve Vang felt a very personal connection to her undergraduate research project.  “As a Hmong person myself, I was fascinated and excited to be able to watch the second wave of my own people’s migration to America 30 years later (since the Vietnam War),” explains Eve. 

It was that personal connection that drove Eve to pick the topic of her research project—“An examination of the Hmong resettlement in 2005.”  Two years earlier, the Thai government had announced its plan to close Wat Tham Krabok, temple grounds that had been home to 15,000 Hmong Laos refugees after the termination of refugee camps that were set up during the Vietnam War.  The United States agreed to accept 14,000 of the refugees, and the state of Minnesota began to assist in resettling 5,000 families.

Eve, a political science major from St. Paul, Minn., and her faculty advisor on the project Dr. Manju Parikh, were awarded a highly competitive summer research fellowship by the Social Science Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) to help with her project.  With CUR's support, Eve spent the summer of 2005 interviewing 18 newly-arrived Hmong families, various service providers and government officials.   Eve identified a number of shortcomings in existing resettlement policies.

“My major conclusion was that the organizations designed to resettle these Hmong immigrants were not communicating with each other.  With this broken network, the service provided to the refugee community was inefficient and confusing (to them).” Homelessness, suicide threats, and safety issues such as car accidents were problems that Eve says have resulted from this breakdown in communication.

“The research was challenging, as Eve had to learn to communicate with the new refugees, many of whom spoke a different dialect,” explains Parikh, a professor of political science at CSB/SJU.  “But Eve never gave up.  She worked hard and connected with a lot of families and individuals involved in providing services for the resettlement process.”

Eve is hopeful her research can have a positive impact.  “This population (of 5,000 Hmong families) will certainly impact Minnesota’s communities, economy, and politics.  From this research, I found that the resettlement process needs improvement.” 

Minnesota state legislators learned about Eve’s research  on March 9 at Private College Scholars at the Capitol, a poster session at the St. Paul capitol rotunda, intended to educate legislators and the public about the level and quality of research by undegraduate students at Minnesota's private colleges and universities.  Eve’s project was one of 29 on display.  “Perhaps, I was able to educate them a bit on the resettlement process and in return they can make informed decisions regarding the program,” says Eve.

“This is a very critical area of public policy and Eve’s recommendations are important for our state legislators to hear.  Unlike the news reports, which tend to emphasize primarily the negative aspects, she offers a balanced view,” says Parikh.

Joining Eve at the capitol were two other CSB/SJU students.  Saint John’s senior Sean Abernathy presention described his work on the question “Does foreign direct investment significantly affect emigration rates in developing nations?”  Saint Ben’s senior Erin Saupe presented her biolgraphical study of the life of Mary Anning—a British paleontologist from the 1800’s.

“Undergraduate research provides students with the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge and laboratory skills to meaningful projects,” says Dr. Marcus Webster, CSB/SJU Director of the Undergraduate Research Program.  “Besides gaining experience in self-motivated scholarly work, students learn about the many trials and obstacles—but also the joys—of research in their field.”

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