Olivia Lohr is a 3rd-year Literature, Media, and Communication major studying online science communication with Dr. Allegra Smith. 

How long have you been an undergraduate researcher at Georgia Tech?

I’ve been involved with research since Fall 2024. I got my start working in the Naugle Writing and Communication Center (where I continue to tutor and research), but am now primarily working on an independent project in technical and science communication under Dr. Allegra Smith.

How did you get involved with undergraduate research?

In Spring 2024, I took Communication Theory, Pedagogy, and Practice with Dr. Caitlin Kelly. This course introduced me to the field of writing (center) studies, as well as the research in it, which I thought was quite neat. After joining the writing center as a tutor in Fall 2024, I had the opportunity to work on a project to present at the Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference with two of the professional consultants and ended up really enjoying it!

I became involved with my current primary project after talking with Dr. Allegra during her office hours over the course of last semester. I had previously taken a technical communication class with her and still occasionally dropped by during office hours to talk. This eventually led to us discussing the possibility of an independent study to gain additional research experience by diving into a combination of topics (technical and scientific communication, the internet and digital rhetoric) of interest to me!

What are you working on?

The project is still in its very early stages, but I’m currently studying technical communication, specifically science communication, in digital environments. I’m especially interested in how the existence of social media has affected the nature of science communication, as well as perceptions of it.

As previously mentioned, I worked with two of the writing center’s professional consultants on a project last year. While both of them now work at other institutions, we’re currently collecting data from a survey on writing tutors’ perceptions of leadership.

What is your favorite thing about research/researching?

When in the early stages of a project, I really enjoy when I’ve read enough of the literature to notice the gaps and start to formulate questions and a very rough draft of a plan starts to form in my brain. There’s something very exciting about it. I’m also pretty fond of the satisfaction near the end of the process that comes as I start to put the final paper/poster/etc. together, especially after experiencing moments where I feel stuck.

What are your future plans and how has research influenced them?

Later this year, I’ll be applying to MA programs in rhetoric and composition and hope to pursue a PhD after that! Without participating in research, I probably would’ve never realized that this field is something that I’m super passionate about and want to explore and research further.

What advice do you have for students who want to be undergraduate researchers?

For humanities-adjacent fields, take classes with professors whose research you find interesting and get to know them in office hours! From what I’ve seen (and my experiences), many independent projects find their start from some sort of core question or idea from a class being explored further. Also, as someone who is pretty introverted, if going to office hours just to talk seem intimidating, come up with some sort of question and bring it with you. Simply asking something like “I was curious if you had any further recommended readings/resources/etc. on [topic from course that you like] that we discussed in class earlier this week” can really help you feel less awkward and self-aware.