Chemical Education Today
Association Report: Council on Undergraduate Research
What Is Undergraduate Research? by Judith A. Halstead The Council on Undergraduate Research promotes and assists development of collaborative student/faculty research at primarily undergraduate colleges and universities. Most science educators today accept such research as a critical component of an undergraduate science education. Research provides the primary opportunity for students to engage in the practice of science. We can draw an analogy between sports training and the education of young scientists. We cannot train future tennis players exclusively by providing them with lectures on tennis and superOnly by participating in vising them performing skill-development drills. To scientific investigation become skilled at their game, tennis players must can students underengage in active competistand the nature of tion. Similarly, young scientists must engage in the enscience and become terprise that affords our unscientists. derstanding of the physical universe. Only by participating in scientific investigation can students understand the nature of science and become scientists. Despite broad implementation of the collaborative student–faculty research model, it is clear that all science educators do not understand the term “undergraduate research” in the same way. This range of understanding was addressed specifically last spring at the CUR April Dialogue. In a new approach to fostering active discussion among participants, “special dialogue sessions” were held, that addressed a variety of important questions including “What constitutes undergraduate research?” Participants agreed that undergraduate research must be an original investigation that the student engages in for a significant period of time. Many felt that the nature of undergraduate research varies from discipline to discipline, even within subdisciplines.
In traditional undergraduate research, a student collaborates with a faculty mentor on an ongoing long-term project, usually initiated by the faculty member. The project is expected to be funded by traditional external funding agencies and to result in publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Participants in the dialogue session raised questions with regard to what extent other types of intense investigative experiences might constitute undergraduate research. Are different types of research experiences appropriate for different students? How do administrators and colleagues view different types of undergraduate research? Is there a minimum period of time required for original, creative work? What role can applied investigative projects play in a student’s education? Is applied research still research? Are there advantages to projects initiated by students rather than projects initiated by faculty? Are some valuable projects best considered undergraduate scholarship rather than undergraduate research? After considerable discussion of these and other questions, the group in the session I attended arrived at the following definition of undergraduate research: Undergraduate research is an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.
Tom Wenzel, CUR president and Bates College chemistry professor was the facilitator for this session. He discussed this question and the special dialogue session in a recent President’s column of the CUR Quarterly (1). He declares that this definition “allows disciplinary flexibility by not forcing scholarship into one model. It makes no judgment on the relative value of teacher- or student-initiated work and allows for student–faculty and student–student collaborations.” He also comments that this definition “sets a high standard, since it maintains that scholarship must be original, because contributing to a dis-
Two Views of Undergraduate Research Gordon Shaw, Skidmore College undergraduate works with his collaborative research mentor, Judy Halstead, on an investigation of the chemical kinetics of plasma dry etching of titanium. This project has been funded by Research Corporation and the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund.
Jessica Edwards, Skidmore College ’98, measures turbidity, dissolved oxygen as a function of depth and several other water chemistry parameters as part of her investigation of Loughberry Lake, the drinking water supply for Saratoga Springs. In the summer of 1997, her work was supported by the Skidmore College Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program. Currently, Jessica’s work is being supervised by both Judy Halstead and Roger W. Armstrong, a faculty member at nearby Russell Sage College. Roger’s work has been funded by the Rensselaer County Environmental Management Council and various local lake associations.
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Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 74 No. 12 December 1997
Chemical Education Today
…undergraduate research affords students an understanding of the scientific enterprise unrivaled by any other aspect of the curriculum…[and]…should be fun and engaging, enabling students to acquire commitment to and ownership of their individual projects. cipline implies dissemination among the relevant community through established means and that others in the discipline value the result, and because intellectual and creative activities are forms of engagement that draw on the most advanced thinking and reasoning skills.” In the same column, Tom strongly encourages undergraduate science faculty to aggressively seek external funding for support of student– faculty collaborative research. Whatever the nature of our individual undergraduate research programs, undergraduate research affords students an understanding of the scientific enterprise unrivaled by any other aspect of the curriculum. In addition and equally important, undergraduate research should be fun and engaging, enabling students to acquire commitment to and ownership of their individual projects. CUR wants to assist faculty members and departments in starting and maintaining strong undergraduate research programs. The popular booklet How to Develop an Undergraduate Research Program is available from the CUR National Office. It includes advice on selection of research projects, selection of students, solicitation of support from the administration and colleagues, and the management of an undergraduate research group. There are extensive appendices discussing the art of proposal writing, hints on the preparation of posters, and sources of funding. Contact the CUR National Office, located at 734 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005, or check the CUR Web site . The Chemistry Division of CUR has a Mentor Network designed to help individuals and departments either begin or strengthen their undergraduate
CUR Names New National Executive Officer and Moves National Office to Washington, DC The Council on Undergraduate Research has appointed Elaine Hoagland to the position of National Executive Officer effective October 1, 1997. Hoagland received her bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Pomona College and her Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. For the past ten years she has been Executive Director of the Association of Systematic Collections, a nonprofit organization representing North American museums, botanical gardens, and colleges and universities with natural history collections. Effective December 1, 1997, CUR’s new address will be 734 15th Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20005. The move to Washington is expected to help CUR increase contacts with federal agencies and to participate in the national dialogue on science and science education.
research programs. For more information about the Mentor Network or other CUR Chemistry Division activities contact: Chemistry Division Chair, Nancy Mills, Department of Chemistry, Trinity University, 715 Stadium Drive, San Antonio, TX 78212; email:
[email protected]. Literature Cited 1. Wenzel, T. CUR Q. 1997, 17, 163.
Judith Ann Halstead is in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866; phone: 518/580-5126; email: halstead @skidmore.edu.
Vol. 74 No. 12 December 1997 • Journal of Chemical Education
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