Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

Introducing research into UG curriculum is critical toward the development of empirically informed future researchers and practitioners. Developing mechanisms to embed research into curriculum and culture can be challenging. To address these challenges, our UG psychology program has implemented initiatives to increase research participation. We will discuss several which include embedded class research, laboratory experiments, poster opportunities, and faculty research team participation. We also facilitate UG through research centers, partnering with public and private organizations, and novel approaches such as Roach Lab (roachlab.org). We will specifically highlight outcomes attributed to engaging students in research.

It is believed that if students are taught inductively in their first 2 years, it could induce many of them to seek research experiences later in their academic careers. To do this, we initiated an effort to promote engagement in research topics and faculty development. First, collaboration between one faculty member at SSC and a Principal Investigator at the Sanford-Burnham Institute was developed. This collaboration resulted in the creation of several internships at the Institute for students in the newly developed STEM research class. Second, to increase student engagement, the biology department developed a research focused colloquium series. Each fall semester we host 2-3 colloquia, attended by approximately 50-100 students, where scientific professionals and research students presented on topics involving scientific research, followed by a question and answer period. This helped to build education-industry-research connections, providing our students with an understanding of career opportunities available for life scientists, in turn facilitating increased student motivation. By offering colloquia with a research focus, we were able to further identify students who had a special interest in research fields as opposed to health careers. Through survey, student interest in research fields increased from 44% to 56% after attending a research focused colloquium. Through collaboration with research-focused institutions, cultivation of a colloquium series, and the establishment of a STEM research course, we have found a way of targeting interested students to streamline them into competitive learning and career opportunities for the future.

Since 1989, students at the University of Central Florida have had the opportunity to earn Honors through the Honors in the Major program. In an effort to accommodate the range of students’ research interests and to make the Honors thesis more appealing and accessible to qualified students, the Office of Honors Research has in the last year introduced two new options: the Interdisciplinary thesis and the Engineering thesis. The former allows students to conduct research and write theses outside their declared academic majors; the latter option allows students in Engineering to substitute their Senior Design course for an Honors Thesis course, thus reducing the number of credits associated with the program.

The Office of Undergraduate Research at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for the past seven years has offered a short-term research abroad program to allow students to have an international experience while being introduced to research. This past year the program was not feasible due to low student interest. The program was revamped to a research grant to encourage students who are participating in an ERAU faculty-led study abroad program to add a research component to their experience. Come find out how one program was revamped to meet the needs of the current students while still achieving the desired programmatic outcomes.

Undergraduate research enhances student learning and professional development, including self-reported learning gains and solidified career goals. However, it is unclear how undergraduate research affects direct measures of student learning relative to other High Impact Practices (HIPs). FGCU assesses critical thinking, information literacy, & written communication skills among graduating seniors annually, allowing us to compare HIPs directly. Seniors that complete research-focused capstones perform significantly better than students completing service-learning or internship experiences. Research appears to strengthen students’ use of evidence, which then improves the overall development of these transferable skills.