Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

Program for the Symposium

Evelyn Marques Frazier, Ph.D., is a NRMN Master Facilitator, Senior Instructor, and Director of the Introduction to Biological Research and Honors Thesis Program at Florida Atlantic University. These programs were developed under an NSF-Undergraduate Research and Mentoring award to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in undergraduate research and create a culture of research among undergraduate students. The program has trained over 168 students in 9 years. She is now expanding undergraduate research training to freshman and transfer students through the NSF-LEARN Program in the College of Science. Dr. Frazier is also a Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching Alumni (2006, 2007, 2012) and has modified her courses to promote active learning. She is an insect ecologist with experience in tropical ecosystems, and has been teaching introductory biology courses for 17 years. Her research interests are on gopher tortoise conservation, insect-plant interactions, and Biology Education.

Promoting Partnerships in Undergraduate Research: Transforming Barriers to Strengths
Majestic Palm A
Moderators: Ceylan Isgor and Tricia Meredith
Panelists: Michael Cross (University of South Florida), Mary Crowe (Florida Southern University), Kassy Holmes (Valencia College), Rachel Pauletti (Lynn University), and Jeanette Wyneken (Florida Atlantic University)

Models and Best Practices of Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Majestic Palm B
Moderators: Melodie Eichbauer (Florida Gulf Coast University) and Wes Lewis (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)
Panelists: Anne Donnelly (University of Florida), Eric Freundt (University of Tampa), Marianne Porter (Florida Atlantic University) , Melonie Sexton (Valencia College), and Zuzana Zajickova (Barry University)

One example of an enduring outcome from the Engagement in Undergraduate Research Annual Symposium is the creation of the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference (FURC), which is an annual event open to all undergraduate students in the state of Florida to present their research in a poster format. In this session, we will present FURC outcomes and survey data. Recently, the planning committee has initiated the process to form a non-profit corporation to oversee FURC and facilitate other statewide initiatives to support undergraduate research. Opportunities for involvement in this new organization, called the Florida Undergraduate Research Consortium, will be presented.

Using Social Media to Increase Undergraduate Research Engagement/Involvement: Presented by University of North Florida and Florida Atlantic University Majestic Palm A
Andrea Thompson (Florida Atlantic University), Kelsey Eagen (University of North Florida), and Josh Hollin (Florida Atlantic University)

1 Summer, 2 models, $80k: The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programs at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Central Florida
Majestic Palm B
Jennie Soberon (Florida Atlantic University) and Aubrey Kuperman (UCF)

Undergraduate research with dual enrollment students
Sago Palm
Tricia Meredith and Amy Tift (Florida Atlantic University)

Students move through many first time experiences when navigating their undergraduate and graduate education. Such experiences include the first time students submit an article to a peer-reviewed scientific journal, attend a conference, and conduct fieldwork. The cohort model has been shown to be effective in increasing success in undergraduate education, and it can be adapted to helping students succeed in these novel experiences as well. This presentation will explore one program where the cohort model was implemented to aid undergraduate students preparing their first conference presentation on a scientific research project. Program structure and implementation will be described.

Evelyn Frazier, Ph.D.
Master Facilitator for NRMN

The National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) is a nationwide consortium of biomedical professionals and institutions collaborating to enhance diversity and support research scientists in their progression through each stage of the workforce. This consortium has trained and certified 35 Master Facilitators from 16 institutions to implement evidence-based research -mentoring curricula at all levels of expertise from undergraduates to junior faculty.

As a master facilitator I implement seminars of the curriculum “Entering Research: A Facilitator’s Manual: Workshops for Students beginning Research in Science.” This curriculum consists of 95 evidence based, active learning activities that can be implemented in the training of undergraduate or graduate students. The activities are grouped by Meta Learning Objectives and Areas of Training Development such as: Research Comprehension and Communications skills, Practical research skills, Research ethics, Researcher Identity, Research Confidence & Independence, Equity and Inclusion Awareness and Skills and Professional & Career Development Skills. These activities can be implemented from an exposure level experience through a research-intensive experience. This curriculum is flexible and allows for the development of research mentoring programs at any level of research experience.

Reaching Out: Collaboration to Expand Community-Engaged Research
Majestic Palm A
Latika Young, Kimberly Reid, Alicia Batailles, and David Montez (Florida State University)

Doing More While Spending Less: Increasing Office Productivity on a Budget
Majestic Palm B
Kelsey Eagen (University of North Florida) and Aubrey Kuperman (University of Central Florida)

Strategies to Use Work-Study Research Program to Enhance Professional Development of Transferable Skills
Sago Palm
Jaclyn Chastain, Hulya Yazici, and Melodie Eichbauer (Florida Gulf Coast University)

Valuing Creativity, Research and Scholarship in All Disciplines
Majestic Palm A
Mary Crowe and Sara Fletcher-Harding (Florida Southern College)

A Culture of Mentorship through VCoP
Majestic Palm B
Kadie Hayward Mullins (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)

Scaffolding Inquiry Across the Curriculum at the University of Tampa: Progress and Lessons Learned
Sago Palm
Eric Freundt and Richard RiCharde (The University of Tampa)

CRISPR in the Undergraduate Classroom
Majestic Palm A
Heather Evans Anderson (Stetson University)

Expanding Tiny Earth Research at FAU
Majestic Palm B
Diane Baronas-Lowell (Florida Atlantic University)

Research Courses for Guppies: How to Guide Freshman and Sophomores to Conduct Novel Research
Sago Palm
Ashley Spring (Eastern Florida State College)

Technology Uses and Experience Design to Promote Student Engagement at a Large-Scale Undergraduate Research Conference
Majestic Palm A
Ora Tanner and Michael Cross (University of South Florida)

Tales of Assessment: Vignettes of Evaluating and Documenting Undergraduate Research
Majestic Palm B
Kimberly Schneider (University of Central Florida) and Donna Chamely-Wiik (Florida Atlantic University)

Scaffolding the Honors thesis research process: Ensuring success through intellectual, technical and social support
Sago Palm
Padmini Coopamah Waldron (University of Central Florida)

Before coming to FAU, I developed the undergraduate media arts curriculum at USCB, where I assigned research posters to art students as part of their final project presentations. In this talk, I will describe my approach to integrating practice-based research practices into multimedia courses, and how framing creative work as research can benefit student learning. This STEAM (Art+STEM) approach to multimedia pedagogy tries to balance intuitive exploration of creative expression with critical enquiry into the artistic process. Students begin to understand that artists have always been technical and learn to better articulate what motivated their creative work.

Students majoring in education are underrepresented in undergraduate scholarship. To enable teacher candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills in scholarly activities and products, we implemented a well-orchestrated infusion of problem-solving, critical thinking, oral and written communication, collaboration into courses.

In this presentation, we will describe this systematic course-based infusion of scholarly endeavors with examples from courses. In addition, during the past three years, annually we assessed teacher candidates’ scholarly products for critical thinking, informational literacy and writing. Here we will share what we learned from the data, and how we used it to strengthen undergraduate scholarship for future teachers.