THE POWER OF
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
Jeffrey M. Osborn
School of Science
The College of New Jersey
2000 Pennington Road
Ewing, NJ 08628
609.771.2724
josborn@tcnj.edu
COUNCIL ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
www.cur.org
CUR is an organization for faculty and
administrators who believe that research
is an important form of teaching
COUNCIL ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
Annual & Upcoming
Meetings
Biennial National Conference
“Learning through Research: Dynamic Faculty, Students, and Institutions”
June 24-26, 2006
DePauw University • Greencastle, IN
Proposal Writing Workshop
July 22-26, 2006
University of Richmond • Richmond, VA
Institutionalizing UG Research Workshop
October 13-15, 2006
Harvey Mudd College • Claremont, CA
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH (NCUR)
www.ncur.org
• An annual, student-oriented conference

Over 2,000 student presentations
• Open to all disciplines
• Some lunch sessions for faculty and
administrators
• April 12-14, 2007 – Dominican University of CA
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
• Student Engagement
• Transformational Pedagogies
• The Curriculum
• Undergraduate Research as a Pedagogy
• Definitions and Diversity
• The Four Characteristics of UG Research
• How to ‘Count’ UG Research
• Making Connections
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
• Engaged forms of learning yield more educational
effectiveness (transformational experiences)




National Survey of Student Engagement
Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that
Matter (2005, Jossey-Bass & AAHE)
Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a
Nation goes to College (2002, AACU)
Others (e.g., NSF, NRC, PKAL, HHMI, Carnegie, Kuh et
al., Barr & Tagg, Guskin, Astin, Pascarella, etc.)
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Cont.
•Curricular, Co-curricular & Extra-curricular
Student involvement
 Student-student interactions
 Student-mentor interactions
 Student-community interactions

INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
TRANSFORMATIONAL PEDAGOGIES
•Pedagogies of Engagement
Undergraduate Research
 Internships
 Service Learning
 Study Abroad

•Undergraduate Research
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
THE CURRICULUM
• Learning-centered
• Collaborative learning
• Faculty as ‘teacher-scholars’
• The liberal learning landscape
• Students: ‘intentional learners’ & ‘integrative
thinkers’
• Context-rich & research-rich
Teaching our disciplines in context
 Integration of teaching & research
 Discovery-based & problem-based experiences
 Credit for students & faculty (not just an ‘add-on’)

INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
UG RESEARCH AS A PEDAGOGY
• Research and teaching are not mutually
exclusive
• At a PUI, research is teaching!
• UG research is not necessarily about
‘traditional’ outcomes (i.e., just the
production, such as publications, etc.)
• All disciplines can participate
• “Research, scholarship and creative activity”
http://src.truman.edu
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
DEFINITIONS & DIVERSITY
• “Research, scholarship, & creative activity” in
the campus discourse – developing a scholarly
culture
• Departmental and institutional faculty need to
engage in a dialogue about what constitutes
appropriate scholarly inquiry in the respective
fields

Observe models from both peer and aspirant
institutions
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
DEFINITIONS & DIVERSITY Cont.
• Developing an understanding and appreciation
for diverse scholarly modes
Attend presentations outside your discipline
 National Conference on Undergraduate Research
(NCUR)

• Investigative or inquiry-based experiences vs.
Undergraduate research
• Undergraduate Research
Academic year
 Summer (full-time, full-immersion)

INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
DEFINITIONS & DIVERSITY Cont.
• 4 unifying characteristics of UG Research

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Mentorship
Originality
Acceptability
Dissemination
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
THE FOUR CHARACTERISTICS
1) Mentorship
• Collaborative
• Serious Interaction
• Clear goals
• Focus on the student
• Focus on the student learning process
• Intellectual engagement by the student
2) Originality
• Meaningful contribution by the student
• Should be entirely or partially novel
• It’s okay to reveal more questions than answers
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
THE FOUR CHARACTERISTICS
Cont.
3) Acceptability
• Employs techniques and methodologies that are both
appropriate and recognized in the discipline
• Includes a reflective/synthetic component that is
appropriate to the discipline
4) Dissemination
• There needs to be a final, tangible product for which
both the process and results are peer-reviewed,
critiqued, juried, judged, etc.
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
HOW TO ‘COUNT’ UG RESEARCH
• Is it teaching, or is it scholarship?
• It’s both!

The mentoring component can be counted as teaching

The outcome component can be counted as scholarship
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
MAKING CONNECTIONS
• Rethinking disciplinary boundaries
• Interdisciplinary modules, labs, courses & curricula
• Interdisciplinary scholarship
• Undergraduate & graduate programs/institutions

2-yrs, PUIs, Comprehensives, Doctorals, R1s
• Academic, private & public sectors: Workforce
development

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Building capacity
Recent reports (Rising above the Gathering Storm; 2005, NRC)
Getting the right people together, at the right place, at the right
time
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
• Students
• Faculty
• Institution
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
STUDENTS
• Opportunity to put classroom knowledge into
practice
• Chance to better understand your discipline
• Stimulation of creative & critical thinking
• Ability to learn more independently
• Chance to participate in new discoveries
• Enhanced ability to understand the philosophy
of life-long learning
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
STUDENTS
Cont.
• Recognition by peers
• Chance to be an academic role model
• Opportunity to build a relationship with a
faculty mentor
• Identification of career interests
• Increased chances for securing a job, and/or
acceptance into a graduate or professional
school
• It’s fun!
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
FACULTY
• Chance to mentor quality students
• Stimulation and confidence associated with
creative & critical thinking
• Excitement created by intellectual activity
• Enhanced ability to remain current in one’s
discipline and field
• Integrating scholarship and teaching
• Chance to improve your teaching
• Internal and external recognition
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
FACULTY Cont.
• Chance to establish or re-invigorate a career
• Chance to be an academic role model
• Opportunity to establish collaborations with
colleagues - interdisciplinary
• Opportunity to promote and model life-long
learning to students
• Chance to breakdown barriers between faculty
and students
• It’s fun!
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
THE INSTITUTION
• Opportunity to enhance student learning
• Opportunity to recruit and retain high-quality
students
• Opportunity to recruit and retain high-quality
faculty
• Opportunity to breakdown barriers between
students and faculty
• Opportunity to increase placement rates into
graduate and professional schools, and the
workforce
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
THE INSTITUTION
Cont.
• Chance to breakdown barriers between teaching
and scholarship - embracing the ‘TeacherScholar’ concept for the faculty
• Intellectual enrichment of the baccalaureate
degree
• Enhancement of the reputation
• Attracting external recognition
• Attracting external funding
• It’s fun! – increases morale
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
• Context-rich and Research-rich Curriculum
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration
2 PROGRAMMATIC EXAMPLES (Truman)
 Curriculum Enrichment
 Summer UG Research Experience
 On-campus Summer Experience
 Student & Faculty Voices
 Sustaining the Community
 Research Feeding the Curriculum
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
CONTEXT-RICH & RESEARCH-RICH CURRICULA
• Opportunities
Incorporate focused modules into existing courses
 Modify content and/or approach to pieces of existing
courses
 Modify content and/or approach to the entirety of
existing courses
 Discussion-based, seminar- or journal club-type
courses
 Regular seminar, colloquium, and speaker series
 Mentored student projects
 Add entirely new courses
 Comprehensively revise entire curricula

INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
TWO PROGRAMMATIC EXAMPLES
• The Next STEP
http://step.truman.edu
 Four partner institutions

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Truman State University
Moberly Area Community College
Metropolitan Community Colleges
St. Charles Community College
Bridge Program for Transfer Students
 Undergraduate Research Program
 Interdisciplinary Curriculum Enrichment Program

INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
TWO PROGRAMMATIC EXAMPLES
• Mathematical Biology Initiative
http://mathbio.truman.edu
 Interdisciplinary undergraduate research projects
 Interdisciplinary course development
 Bi-weekly seminar
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
CURRICULUM ENRICHMENT
• Interdisciplinary curriculum committee
Teaching STEM in context
 Developing interdisciplinary modules, courses, and
curricula
 Integrating research and teaching

• Annual retreat

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Off-campus venue, with nice food & beverages
Led by an external Facilitator
Focused and topical
Participants leave with an “agenda for action”
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
SUMMER UG RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
• On-campus & Off-campus Options

An array of off-campus partners in all STEM areas
 Missouri Botanical Garden
 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
 University of Missouri, Columbia
 University of Missouri, Rolla
 The Boeing Company
 Mallinkcrodt
 Towers-Perrin
 Cerner
 Monsanto
 Sigma Aldrich, etc.
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
SUMMER UG RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
• CC student participants

Accommodations for non-traditional students
 Off-campus sites
 Child care (allowance, help, etc.)
 Housing issues, travel allowance
• CC faculty participants

Three each summer; one from each CC campus
 Stipend / R&B allowance
 Research supplies
 Travel to a conference
 Research support for home campus
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
ON-CAMPUS SUMMER EXPERIENCE
• A coordinated, 10-week program that provides a
cohesive set of structured activities designed to
foster intellectual independence, professional
and personal growth


Proposal preparation and presentation, regular mtgs w/
mentors, research activity, weekly meetings, discussions,
workshops and lunches, visiting speaker, field trip to
off-campus research sites, end-of-summer symposium
Summer schedule at: http://step.truman.edu
• Building a community of scholars
Summer
Community
Residence Hall
Meals
Small Group Meetings w/ Mentors
Weekly Meetings, Discussions & Workshops
Social Events
Seminars & Field Trips
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
STUDENT & FACULTY VOICES
• “At the start, I wasn’t thrilled by the statistics, but now
that we have data, I can’t wait to get to it.” (student)
• “I wish I could rewind my biology education and start it
over in a way that had more mathematics.” (student)
• “This has completely changed the way I view my work.”
(faculty member)
• “[With the addition of our CS collaborators] we’ve leaped
an order of magnitude in what we are able to accomplish.”
(faculty member)
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
SUSTAINING THE COMMUNITY
• Academic year programs
Ongoing mentored UG research projects during AY
 Monthly research-oriented workshops
 Bi-weekly Math-Biology Seminar
 Semesterly visiting speaker
 Semesterly field trips to stakeholders in the state

• Comprehensive assessment plan
Focused on both learning/development outcomes and
tangible scholarly outcomes
 Data and instruments are integrated into the
overall institutional assessment plan

INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION:
RESEARCH FEEDING THE CURRICULUM
• Development of new courses
Introduction to Mathematical Biology
 Bioinformatics
 Programming for Scientists
 Others

• Using data from UG research projects in existing
and new courses & modules
• Incorporating a problem-based similar theme into
inter-departmental courses

Diabetes model
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
• Fund Raising & Grant Writing
• Indirect Cost Policies
• Strategic Investments
• Academic Year Faculty Salaries
• Internal Grant Programs (Faculty & Students)
• Administrative Programs/Offices
• Sustainability & Scalability
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
FUND RAISING & GRANT WRITING
• Goal – Creating opportunities
• Cultivating relationships

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Alumni & friends
Local & regional businesses
Private foundations & public agencies
• Collaborations & Partnering
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Colleagues
Partner & stakeholder groups
Grants & Sponsored Research Office
Development Office
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
FUND RAISING & GRANT WRITING
Cont.
• Writing grant proposals

Intellectual benefits

Collaborative & interdisciplinary proposals

Submit and re-submit proposals
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Planning budgets carefully (faculty salary, student
stipends, staff members, etc.)
Use of direct funds
Creative uses of indirect costs (leveraging other
resources and supporting and building the culture)
Indirect cost policies (models)
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
INDIRECT COST POLICIES
• Review existing policies
• Shared distribution models
President, Vice President, Dean
 President/VP, Dean, Department
 VP, Dean, Department, PI

• Faculty incentive models
Proportions to institution & PI
 PI proportion split to direct costs & salary
supplement

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS
• Pay new (& continuing) faculty some
summer salary to arrive early and write an
external grant proposal
• Take faculty to visit funding agencies and
program officers
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
USING ACADEMIC YEAR FACULTY
SALARY FROM GRANTS
• Establishing guidelines & policies
• Creative models
Flexibility
 Percentages of “buy-out”
 Pooling AY salaries from multiple
investigators to fund a ‘teacher-scholar’
postdoc position(s)

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
INTERNAL GRANT PROGRAMS:
FACULTY AWARDS
• Supplies, travel, equipment, software,
etc.
• Stipends for students
• Summer salary/stipends for faculty
• Collaborative with students
• Competitive
• Can be defined as a “seed” program
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
INTERNAL GRANT PROGRAMS:
STUDENT AWARDS (STIPEND-BASED)
• Summer
• Full-time
• Immersion-type experience
• Sources
Direct budget line
 Indirect costs
 Development funds (e.g., Biology Alumni
Research Stipends - BARS)

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRAMS
• Grants Office


Newsletters
Boilerplate language
• Instructional Technology Center
• Faculty Development Office
• Undergraduate Research Office
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
SUSTAINABILITY & SCALABILITY
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•
•
•
•
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Projects that are people-specific are hard to sustain
Clear definitions of both the goals and processes need
be known and embraced by all leadership teams
Ownership by all stakeholders is needed
Share outcomes and student testimonials (succinctly)
Partnerships and collaborations are critical
Remaining focused on the goals
Intentionally consider the adaptability and scalability
of the project from the outset
Seeking outside advice, counsel, and peer review
(advisory boards, program reviews, etc.)
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
BENEFITS OF UG RESEARCH
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
INSTITUTIONAL FOCUS & MISSION
• Incorporating substantive academic issues,
discussion, and reflection into the institution’s
culture
Engagement vs. busyness and over-scheduling
 Meeting agendas & frequencies
 Program reviews, retreats, workshops (agendas for
action)
 An atmosphere of ‘creative tension’ & risk-taking
(balanced)

AN INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE
• Developing a new culture that embraces
undergraduate research, student engagement,
curricular innovation, interdisciplinary
collaboration, and deep faculty engagement can
only occur when it has broad, grass-roots
involvement of the faculty and is buttressed by
strong administrative support.
• Building a shared vision!
• It’s an evolution!