Faculty Perspectives Regarding the Undergraduate Research Experience in Science and Engineering

The Importance of Scientific Publishing: Teaching an Undergraduate How to Swim the Entire Length of the Pool

Six Steps for Cultivating Successful Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate research involves experiential learning methods that helps animal science students gain critical thinking skills. There is high demand for these opportunities. For example, 77.9% of incoming freshmen in the Department of Animal Sciences & Industry at Kansas State University in Fall 2017 and Fall 2018 planned to conduct research sometime during their undergraduate career (422 of 542 students). Conventional, one-on-one mentoring methods in the department were only serving 1.7% of the undergraduate population (21 of 1,212 students). This creates a unique challenge of increasing the number of undergraduate research opportunities, while maintaining the impact of individualized experiential learning. One method to address this challenge is the incorporation of a course-based research program. In this model, research projects are conducted during a conventional semester during scheduled classroom hours, with project components divided into 3 sections: (1) research preparation, including compliance requirements, hypothesis testing, experimental design, and protocol development; (2) data collection; and (3) data interpretation and dissemination. Students collect data as a team, but individually develop their own research abstract and poster to maintain a high level of experiential learning. By teaching multiple sections of this course per semester and incorporating the concepts into existing laboratories, 13.5% of students in the department completed undergraduate research in the 2018–2019 academic year (162 of 1,197 students). To monitor the quality of these experiences, student critical thinking ability was assessed using the online Critical Thinking Basic Concepts & Understanding Test (Foundation for Critical Thinking, Tomales, CA). Undergraduate research experiences increased (P = 0.028) the growth in student critical thinking score, but the type of research experience did not influence assessed skills (P > 0.281). Thus, course-based undergraduate research experiences may be an option for growing the quantity and quality of undergraduate research experience in animal science.

Student participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate research experiences has received national emphasis. The undergraduate research model used at a comprehensive public university supported faculty-mentored student projects across STEM and all disciplines. Between 2016 and 2019, 356 undergraduate students presented their research work annually at a campus showcase, with participation levels more than doubling over time. A rigorous study identified best practices for engaging all undergraduate majors in authentic research experiences. Results confirmed that the undergraduate research model successfully supported both traditional and minority populations. At the same time, 24 percent more STEM-related majors maintained an overall 0.13 higher first-year GPA than the general population of undergraduates. In addition, campus engagement was 42 percent higher for the showcase participants.

Undergraduate research experiences have been supported by the National Science Foundation since the late 1980s in an effort to integrate research and learning and to encourage students to continue their education by pursuing graduate degrees. This paper adds to our understanding of whether undergraduate research experiences influence graduate school pursuit by examining survey responses from 61 industrial engineering alumni in three groups: those that worked as undergraduate research assistants, those who took an undergraduate research methods class, and a comparison group who graduated from the same bachelor's degree program but did not participate in either research opportunity. Results indicate similar levels of interest in graduate school from the comparison group and the research assistants with 71 to 75% of each group showing interest, while 100% of the alumni who took the research methods class have interest. When those with interest in graduate school were asked why, a small percentage of the responses were directly related to undergraduate research experiences, while a large percentage of responses related to encouragement from professors, friends or others, and desire for career advancement and professional growth.

This paper describes our experiences in leading Lumberjack Summer Camp (LSC), a 10-week undergraduate research experience in compiler-based optimization techniques for functional programs, held during the summer of 2000. Like many undergraduate research experiences, LSC was designed to provide an opportunity for students and faculty to work closely together toward a common research goal. But LSC was designed around an additional aim as well: to bring together a critical mass of researchers from two small liberal arts colleges to pursue individual research projects situated within one overarching, collaborative, cutting-edge research endeavor. We explore some important consequences of this design choice, ultimately offering LSC as an unusual, but very workable, model for undergraduate research experiences.

Inside the research incubator: A case study of an intensive undergraduate research experience for nursing & midwifery students

We present work-in-progress reflecting on the initial year of a distinctive summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. Our REU model combines fundamental research in computational sensing with a scholarly context that connects computer science with computational liberal arts. Students are intellectually stimulated to make sense of people's behaviors and cognitive processes with multimodal sensing hardware and software. In doing so, they explore the fundamental challenges found at the intersection of computing, the human experience, and scientific interrogation. The placement of the human experience at the core of the research theme enables an environment that stimulates and cultivates an innovative undergraduate research model. We highlight outcomes from the first year and discuss three emerging practices that are central to our REU framework: (1) team-based collaborative training; (2) transdisciplinary integration; and (3) systematic prioritization of inclusiveness. We also describe how these practices are incorporated into our overall undergraduate research framework and touch upon lessons learned from feedback collected.

The present study examined the reliability of student evaluations of summer undergraduate research experiences using the SURE (Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences) and a follow-up survey disseminated 9 mo later. The survey further examines the hypothesis that undergraduate research enhances the educational experience of science undergraduates, attracts and retains talented students to careers in science, and acts as a pathway for minority students into science careers. Undergraduates participated in an online survey on the benefits of undergraduate research experiences. Participants indicated gains on 20 potential benefits and reported on career plans. Most of the participants began or continued to plan for postgraduate education in the sciences. A small group of students who discontinued their plans for postgraduate science education reported significantly lower gains than continuing students. Women and men reported similar levels of benefits and similar patterns of career plans. Undergraduate researchers from underrepresented groups reported higher learning gains than comparison students. The results replicated previously reported data from this survey. The follow-up survey indicated that students reported gains in independence, intrinsic motivation to learn, and active participation in courses taken after the summer undergraduate research experience.

Hands‐on learning is a proven method of improving students’ critical thinking skills. Undergraduate research projects are encouraged to help students develop research and laboratory skills. If properly designed and implemented, research opportunities can be embedded in existing student coursework, which increases the number of students who can participate in these research opportunities. Objectives of this study were twofold: (a) to determine students’ perceptions of an undergraduate research laboratory exercise and (b) provide an innovative laboratory exercise for instructors to implement in their own classrooms. Rolled cookies were prepared by a food science class according to American Association of Cereal Chemists Method 10–50.05, using sucrose and alternative sweeteners and evaluated for physicochemical and organoleptic attributes. After completing the exercise, students evaluated cookie physical/organoleptic properties using a hedonic scale, were asked about personal demographics, and were surveyed about research/writing skills and food processing knowledge using a Likert scale. Approximately 50% of the class responded to the 2018 survey and nearly 85% responded to the 2019 survey. On average, 81.6% of students responded with “Strongly Agree” or “Somewhat Agree” to all survey questions, including data collection and analysis, critical thinking skills, experimental design, and replications. Students responded that detailed instructions provided by instructors were beneficial to their ability to understand experimental design, scientific communication, and the importance of using scientific resources.

The themed Fall 2024 issue of Scholarship & Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR): Career Readiness features content addressing career skills obtained through undergraduate research. The collection offers two open-to-read articles that contribute to our understanding of the current state of career readiness as achieved through undergraduate research and transferable skills. It also includes four additional articles, including writing skills, career readiness from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, mentoring; and transfer students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Teaching advanced manufacturing through course-based undergraduate research in a vertically integrated projects (VIP) class

Engaging in undergraduate research experiences is known to have broad and positive impacts on college students. Despite the benefits, achieving faculty buy-in and support can be challenging even when faculty have strong research funding. In order to understand how to better support undergraduate research programs, we applied quantitative models to explore how the impact of research funding is mediated by faculty beliefs about undergraduate research mentoring in STEM disciplines. The results indicate that faculty characteristics and beliefs about the benefits and barriers of mentoring undergraduate students in research impact the number of students mentored even when accounting for research funding levels of the individual faculty. Practical recommendations are presented based on the models from this research project in order to provide insight into how centers or units on a campus may work with faculty to support and encourage mentoring of undergraduates in research in the biomedical sciences.

Undergraduate research experiences are a "high impact" educational practice that confer benefits to students. However, little attention has been paid to understanding faculty motivation to mentor undergraduate students through research training programs, even as the number of programs has grown, requiring increasing numbers of faculty mentors. To address this, we introduce a conceptual model for understanding faculty motivation to mentor and test it by using empirical data to identify factors that enable and constrain faculty engagement in an undergraduate research program. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2013, we employed generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 536 faculty across 13 research institutions to examine how expected costs/benefits, dispositional factors, situational factors, previous experience, and demographic factors predicted faculty motivation to mentor. Results show that faculty who placed greater value on the opportunity to increase diversity in the academy through mentorship of underrepresented minorities were more likely to be interested in serving as mentors. Faculty who agreed more strongly that mentoring undergraduate students was time consuming and their institution's reward structures were at odds with mentoring, or who had more constrained access to undergraduate students were less likely to be interested in serving as mentors. Mid-career faculty were more likely than late-career faculty to be interested in serving as mentors. Findings have implications for improving undergraduate research experiences, since the success of training programs hinges on engaging highly motivated faculty members as mentors.

ABSTRACTThis study examines undergraduate research experiences at a minority-serving institution (MSI) in a political science laboratory. Students contributed to projects in a collaborative research lab at the University of California Riverside that involves undergraduate and graduate students in projects related to health and politics. Adopting a participatory approach to research, the study’s research participants also are coauthors who co-created the research protocols; collected the data; transcribed, coded, and analyzed the data; and wrote up the findings. Our analysis of 12 in-depth interviews with current and former undergraduate research assistants (RAs) found that their work in the lab challenged their perceptions of what research is and what it means to do research; shaped their path to pursue graduate studies; developed their social and professional skills; and offered an inclusive and humanizing experience with graduate students and faculty members. Challenges that the RAs mentioned included time management, bureaucratic accounting and payroll procedures, and feelings of self-doubt; the lab’s culture of inclusion and independence mitigated some of these challenges. Our findings align with the scholarly literature that suggests collaborative research opportunities can have beneficial outcomes, particularly for students from groups that are underrepresented in doctoral programs.