Introduction - Fall 2024

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 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.

: The Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean/Marine Science program supports active participation by underrepresented undergraduate students in remote sensing and Ocean/Marine Science research training activities. The program is based on a model for undergraduate research programs supported by the National Science Foundation. The URE project features mentors, research projects, and professional development opportunities. It is the long-term goal of the URE in Ocean/Marine Science to provide an active research experience as an effective way to attract talented undergraduates and retain them in careers in ocean and marine science. In addition, this program supports the involvement of students from the African Countries of Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria. Funds were leveraged with the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant # ANT-0944255 [2].

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.

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

Students majoring in Engineering Technology programs at Western Washington University (USA) have many opportunities to participate in unique undergraduate research experiences and innovative laboratory programs. This paper describes the methods used by the faculty to integrate innovative design experiences into the undergraduate programs at Western Washington University. The CIM projects in the Manufacturing Engineering Technology program are used to illustrate how undergraduate students can have their own creativity and learning stimulated by creating learning tools for K-12 programs. Faculty workload issues are also discussed. Finally, the paper describes another step in the integration process at Western Washington University-a new curricular model that will focus on high-end CAE packages and rapid prototyping to enhance laboratory experiences and undergraduate research programs.

This study examined the perceptions of 155 science and engineering faculty at a mid‐size university with a very extensive undergraduate research program. The faculty thought the undergraduate research experience provided important educational benefits to the students, in good agreement with results from a recent alumni survey. The faculty who supervised undergraduates for a longer period of time and who modified their research program to accommodate undergraduates perceived a greater enhancement of important cognitive and personal skills. Undergraduate research was also believed to provide important mentoring and teaching experience for graduate students who worked with undergraduate research assistants.

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.

The impact and benefits of undergraduate research experiences (URE) in the first two years of post-secondary education have been well documented. Early exposure to research experiences is effective in recruitment, diversity and persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) degree programs, particularly among underrepresented minority students. The Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Course (SUREC) presented in this paper is a cross-institutional collaboration between a two-year college (2YC) and a four-year college (4YC), designed to expose 2YC transfer students to a rigorous 12-week URE focused on geosciences. Findings from the program evaluation indicate the SUREC increased transfer student’s STEM knowledge and skills, science identity, and self-efficacy. Twenty of the twenty-four SUREC participants, representing underrepresented and majority students alike, transferred to a 4YC to continue in geosciences or in a related STEM field within two-years of the URE. A strong cross-institutional collaboration that combined academic, financial, and mentoring support was key to enhancing transfer students’ URE experiences. Leveraging teaching and research expertise of 2YC adjuncts as emerging academics and educators was a hallmark of this program. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2021.2005510

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to measure 1st- and 2nd-year students’ engagement as a result of a qualitative inquiry and field experiences with elders residing in an independent and assisted living retirement community. Undergraduate student research and field experiences are often introduced toward the completion of undergraduate students’ academics. The findings suggest discovery and further consideration to implement undergraduate research and field experiences at the beginning of students’ academic experiences in gerontology. Outcomes further suggest that early introduction of gerontological research and field experiences may assist in educating students about agism, potentially dissuading personal fears of their aging or apprehensions in working with elders. Optimal student engagement is evidenced through connectedness to learning, understanding of aging concepts through the lens of research, and enhanced learning metaphorically described as a woven gerontological tapestry.

Economic mobility and career success for undergraduate students is enhanced by understanding students’ experiences and supports and addressing the barriers they face. This study explores how U.S. undergraduate transfer students described their career journeys and how they perceived contextual barriers and supports for their career-oriented experiences. This longitudinal narrative case study was conducted with undergraduate students who were transferring from a community college to a four-year college. They participated in a professional development program, which funded science/engineering internships within bioproducts and bioenergy sectors. The study drew from social cognitive career theory and analyzed data collected over two years, including student interviews, biographical mapping, and reflective writings. Students most frequently described supports they received from their professors and program staff (institutional), family (social), and their internship hosts. The barriers they identified were more variable, such as inadequate advising and communication issues, and were often resolved by program staff (institutional) and financial supports from the program and internship sites. Internship participation led to all of the participating students feeling a sense of job readiness. Programmatic supports, such as clear communication between the internship host and the academic program, funding the internships, and addressing barriers by providing adequate mentoring and logistical supports, were found to enhance the experiences of science and engineering transfer students.

Undergraduate research experiences benefit students by immersing them in the work of scientists and often result in increased interest and commitment to careers in the sciences. Expanding access to Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) programs has the potential to engage more students in authentic research experiences earlier in their academic careers and grow and diversify the geoscience workforce. The Research Experience for Community College Students (RECCS) was one of the first National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded REU programs exclusively for 2-year college students. In this study, we describe findings from five years of the RECCS program and report on outcomes from 54 students. The study collected closed- and open-ended responses on post-program reflection surveys to analyze both student and mentor perspectives on their experience. Specifically, we focus on students’ self-reported growth in areas such as research skills, confidence in their ability to do research, and belonging in the field, as well as the mentors’ assessment of students’ work and areas of growth, and the impact of the program on students’ academic and career paths. In addition, RECCS alumni were surveyed annually to update data on their academic and career pursuits. Our data show that RECCS students learned scientific and professional skills throughout the program, developed a sense of identity as a scientist, and increased their interest in and excitement for graduate school after the program. Through this research experience, students gained confidence in their ability to “do” science and insight into whether this path is a good fit for them. This study contributes to an emerging body of data examining the impact of REU programs on community college students and encourages geoscience REU programs to welcome and support more community college students.

Matthew W. Ohland is Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University. He has degrees from Swarthmore College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Florida. His research on the longitudinal study of engineering students, team assignment, peer evaluation, and active and collaborative teaching methods has been supported by over $14.5 million from the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation and his team received Best Paper awards from the Journal of Engineering Education in 2008 and 2011 and from the IEEE Transactions on Education in 2011. Dr. Ohland is Chair of the IEEE Curriculum and Pedagogy Committee and an ABET Program Evaluator for ASEE. He was the 2002–2006 President of Tau Beta Pi and is a Fellow of the ASEE and IEEE.

Since 1991, the Texas A&M University System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TAMUS LSAMP) Program has supported underrepresented minority (URM) college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Throughout the 30 years of TAMUS LSAMP's existence, undergraduate research experiences have been a major programming focus. For the last 14 years, TAMUS LSAMP has sponsored study abroad experiences for its student participants. In 2015, emphasis was placed on students conducting international research instead of just taking courses abroad. Two programs: the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Engineering Learning Community Introduction to Research (ELCIR) program, with a component in Mexico, and the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) Belize: Ridges to Reefs program provide TAMUS LSAMP-sponsored students with faculty-led, hands-on international research experiences. Both programs equip participants with pre-travel classes and training and two-week international excursions and engagement. This paper explores the design and curriculum for the ELCIR and Belize: Ridges to Reefs programs. Program evaluation results including student participants' expectations and outcomes from their international experiences are presented as evidence of efficacy. The impact international research experiences had on students' awareness of and interest in graduate school is also provided. Similar programs can be reproduced to engage URM and first-generation college students at other colleges or universities.