Engaging Undergraduate Students as Scholars: The Hurricane REU Model
Presentation Type
Workshop
Location
BHC 126
Start Date
26-9-2009 1:20 PM
End Date
26-9-2009 2:05 PM
Description/Abstract
This workshop introduces an innovative student-faculty-community collabora- tive research strategy designed to develop skills of critical inquiry through the context of a real world problem – hurricanes. For the past three years, the University of South Florida has provided a 9-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) to study the social aspects of hurricanes – i.e., how individuals, communities and institutions prepare for and recover from hurricanes. Implemented with funding from the National Science Foundation, an engaged group of faculty mentors from anthropology, sociology, geography, education, social work, aging, and public health train students in qualitative and quantitative research methods and provide an intense and substantive research experience examining hurricanes from an interdisciplin- ary social science perspective. Community partners collaborate with the research endeavor by providing training in disaster-related humanitarian intervention skills (e.g., mass care, sheltering, behavioral first aid), and in real- life disaster exercises to immerse the emerging scholars in the field of hazards research. This presentation shares lessons learned in developing, implement- ing, and maintaining a collaborative research experience with undergraduate students. Examples of scholarly work produced by the students will be showcased including technical reports, posters and published manuscripts.
Engaging Undergraduate Students as Scholars: The Hurricane REU Model
BHC 126
This workshop introduces an innovative student-faculty-community collabora- tive research strategy designed to develop skills of critical inquiry through the context of a real world problem – hurricanes. For the past three years, the University of South Florida has provided a 9-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) to study the social aspects of hurricanes – i.e., how individuals, communities and institutions prepare for and recover from hurricanes. Implemented with funding from the National Science Foundation, an engaged group of faculty mentors from anthropology, sociology, geography, education, social work, aging, and public health train students in qualitative and quantitative research methods and provide an intense and substantive research experience examining hurricanes from an interdisciplin- ary social science perspective. Community partners collaborate with the research endeavor by providing training in disaster-related humanitarian intervention skills (e.g., mass care, sheltering, behavioral first aid), and in real- life disaster exercises to immerse the emerging scholars in the field of hazards research. This presentation shares lessons learned in developing, implement- ing, and maintaining a collaborative research experience with undergraduate students. Examples of scholarly work produced by the students will be showcased including technical reports, posters and published manuscripts.