Undergraduate Research – Faculty
What is Research?
According to the Council on Undergraduate Research, it is a mentored investigation or creative inquiry conducted by undergraduates that seeks to make a scholarly or artistic contribution to knowledge.
Benefits of Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate research serves an important role in meeting our university’s strategic mission. In addition to helping to advance a faculty member’s research agenda, undergraduate research also provides a variety of benefits to the student and the institution including:
- Enhancing student learning through mentoring relationships with faculty.
- Increasing retention and graduation rates (Nagda et al., 1998)
- Increasing enrollment in post-undergraduate education and providing effective career preparation (Hathaway et al., 2002; Kremer and Bringle, 1990)
- Developing critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, intellectual independence, and communication skills (Bauer and Bennett, 2003)
- Developing an understanding of research methodology.
- Promoting an innovation-oriented culture.
- Developing competencies that speak to career-readiness (Seymour et al., 2004; Lopatto, 2006)
- Increasing retention amongst, and opening career pathways for, minority and underrepresented populations (Nagda et al., 1998)
Conditions for Engagement
Faculty and programs engaging students in undergraduate research experience must operate under the following conditions. These conditions ensure that legal protections exist for the student, faculty member and the institution while the research activities are conducted.
- Students must be engaged through one of the following formats:
- The student is enrolled for credit in a course associated with the research experience. In these instances, student learning outcomes associated with the research experience should be defined, dissemination of the work should be required/encouraged, and a reflective component must be present.
- The student is hired into a position associated with the research experience that pays them for their efforts.
- A suitable funding source is identified to support the research where goods, services, travel, and personnel costs may be present. Funding sources may include but are not limited to:
- A designated fee associated with the course.
- A Foundation account with distribution guidelines that allow for such use.
- An external source such as a grant or contract