Session III: Undergraduate Research
Session questions ...
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a research requirement?
Are there problems defining what constitutes research at an undergraduate level?
What kind of preparation is needed for students and how do you provide it?
Are there models other than individual students working with individual faculty
members that are worth considering?
Panelist: Amy Bug
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Swarthmore College
What are the advantages of a research experience?
Research experiences provide students with an ...
Introduction to the practices and induction into the culture of science
•What do working scientists do?
•Is this the right major/career for me?
•Do I feel a part of this culture?
Research experiences provide the nation with a ...
Diversified pool of talented students
-NSF REU guidelines, 2004
What are the advantages of a research experience?
Introduction to the practices and induction into the culture of science
•What do working scientists do?
Read literature, ask questions, master techniques, fabricate equipment,
gather data, analyze results, communicate findings orally and in writing
•What else do working scientists do?
Work on real problems, get paid, are confident, are independent,
depend on other scientists ... adhere to the Mertonian norms or
deviate from them as the case may be!
-P. Ziman, Real Science, 2000
What are the advantages of a research experience?
Some hard data, but the jury is still out …
- Stewart, 2003; Seymour and SRI studies ongoing
Significant experiences of students
faculty concur strongly
on this benefit
faculty concur weakly
Faculty also mention...
•Data analysis skills
•Read literature
•Oral communication
•Written communication
•Work is based on prior studies
•Interest/retention
•Challenge
•Job preparation
•Advisor can write stronger
recommendation
-D. Lopatto, CUR quarterly, 2003
-Lopatto, Stewart, Gallian
What are the advantages of a research experience?
Induction into the culture of science
•Do I feel a part of this culture?
Each Friday, there is a ‘jam session’ where all groups get together to
present their research. It mainly consisted of my research advisor telling
the people in the other group that they weren’t making sense.
-Harvard math student of a summer REU
What are the advantages of a research experience?
Induction into the culture of science
•Do I feel a part of this culture?
Women
Minorities
Significant experiences of minority students
• Interactions with program director
• Being with other minority students
•Interaction with other students in program
-Alexander, 1998; LEAD center report
What are the advantages of a research experience?
Induction into the culture of science
•Do I feel a part of this culture?
It is psychologically most important to get results even if they are not original.
Getting results, even by repeating another’s work, brings with it a great
accession of self-confidence; the young scientist feels himself one of the club
at last, can chip in at seminars and at scientific meetings with “My own
experience was …” or “I got exactly the same results” or … and then can sit
down again tremulous but secretly exultant .
-Sir Peter Medawar, Advice to a Young Scientist, 1979 p. 17
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a research requirement?
Students were extremely positive about the experience. Faculty
were positive about what it did for students, but ‘mixed for
themselves. They value the mentoring relationships, but recognize
that there is some tradeoff in their own scholarship and creative
work.’
-L. Glidden of St. Mary’s College quoted by J. Mervis, Science, 2001
72% of faculty surveyed said “overall research productivity was
enhanced by participation”. Over 90% said they would mentor again
and encourage others. -Excerpt from U. of Mich. RAIRE application
Is there a paradoxical university vs. small-college effect?
Swarthmore’s situation
Approximate numbers for students doing summer research each year ...
50 college stipends for summer; external grants approx. double this
Physics: 17 out of 35 majors (three year estimate … F, S, J) each year
40% of majors are Honors and must write research thesis
Biology: 30-40 out of 100 majors; 3-4 per faculty member
Math: 0-3 out of 75 majors
Chemistry: 9 out of 36 majors; mostly J; all write thesis
Engineering: 10-20 out of 75 majors ; a few F and evenly split btwn. S and J
% of seniors having done research with faculty nationwide:
liberal arts: 39%
Ph.D.(ext): 29%
-NSSE report 2003
Are there problems defining what constitutes
undergraduate
research?
‘When I look at my research, I think first of how students can connect to it.’
-M. Wilson of Wooster College quoted by J. Mervis, Science, 2001
Your experience will depend to a large extent on the advisor you end up with
… Your first few days will be spent knocking on doors trying to find an advisor
who 1) is a good personality match and 2) has work for an undergraduate to
do.
-Swarthmore Physics student of a NIST summer REU
Is there an effect of research field?
Are there problems defining what constitutes
undergraduate
research?
Sacrifice elegance for accessibility and possibility of progress?
…a high proportion of the work was very computational and generally
messy and some students were unhappy with that …
-Harvard math student of a summer REU
Sacrifice possibility of progress for elegance and accessibility?
…the participants aren’t pressured to produce something ‘publishable’ …
this may be good or bad, depending on what you want …
-Harvard math student of a summer REU
Sacrifice nothing ... not universally applicable ...
First decide on a research problem …
based on the “strength” of the student.
•Challenging, but within their capability
•With a short literature
Good problems may be of interest to
someone in a more applied field.
-J. Gallian (mathematics), 2003
When J.G. picked me up at the airport
in June, he said to me ‘There are two
things that go into making a
successful REU. First you need good
students who are going to work hard.
That’s your job. Second, you need to
give them the right questions. That’s
my job, you see.’
Smart, motivated students working in
-Harvard student in Gallian’s REU
graph theory (accessible, fruitful) with a
dedicated advisor -> everyone submits publications after a single summer.
No prior preparation required.
Are there other models ...?
Successful minority and/or women’s programs often contain distinct elements:
•occur early in academic career
•bring together critical mass of students by ethnicity/gender
•foster productive group interactions around both science and leisure time
•involve a course on research methods/culture along with the research
•are explicitly oriented toward future goals
•challenge without overwhelming
Research day award winners at Wayne State U.
2001
Lopatto’s “consideration items” seem particularly vital for minority/women
students, but are important to all students.
Are there other models ...?
Understanding between academic and research advisors ...
She (Iona Black, Yale U.) spends time carefully matching students
with potential mentors. She is always on the lookout for cultural differences
that have the potential to sabotage a student’s progress.
-C. Rey, Science, 2001
Well-designed research experiences can be antidotes to “weeder-course” effects
I was absolutely prepared. I worked for two years in a real research laboratory of
a woman, one of four on faculty ... she would say ‘This is the kind of class you
want to take if you want to go to graduate school.’ … They tried to get me ready
for the big world ...There was always the reality, but there was always the support.
-H. Etkowitz et al., Athena Unbound, 2000
‘I picked that grade up.’ the student recalled. Ms. Green (academic advisor) was
there to say ‘I wasn’t worried.’ ‘When you don’t believe in you, they believe in
you.’ said Ms. McDonald, who went on to study the binding properties of H.I.V.-1
cells in Dr. Summers’ lab. ‘The research is beautiful.’ she said.
-D. Schemo, N.Y. Times, 2000 on the Meyerhoff program at U. MD Baltimore Cty.
Are there other models ...?
Feminist theories of knowledge acquisition and science ...
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Rosser’s stage model of education reform
Belenky et al. “women’s ways of knowing”
Longino’s “science as social knowledge”
Harraway’s “situated knowledge”
Harding’s “strong objectivity”
These overlap with mainstream ideas of what
undergraduate research achieves, and why.