Panelist: Amy BugDept. of Physics and AstronomySwarthmore College

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?

What are the advantages of a research experience?

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 students with an ...

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?

Significant experiences of students

-D. Lopatto, CUR quarterly, 2003

faculty concur strongly on this benefitfaculty concur weakly

•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-Lopatto, Stewart, Gallian

Some hard data, but the jury is still out … - Stewart, 2003; Seymour and SRI studies ongoing

Faculty also mention...

Induction into the culture of science•Do I feel a part of this culture?

What are the advantages of a research experience?

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

Induction into the culture of science•Do I feel a part of this culture?

Women Minorities

What are the advantages of a research experience?

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

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 of a research experience?

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

Is there a paradoxical university vs. small-college effect?

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

Swarthmore’s situation

Approximate numbers for students doing summer research each year ...50 college stipends for summer; external grants approx. double thisPhysics: 17 out of 35 majors (three year estimate … F, S, J) each year

40% of majors are Honors and must write research thesisBiology: 30-40 out of 100 majors; 3-4 per faculty memberMath: 0-3 out of 75 majorsChemistry: 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?

Smart, motivated students working in graph theory (accessible, fruitful) with a dedicated advisor -> everyone submits publications after a single summer.

No prior preparation required.

Are there problems defining what constitutes undergraduate research?

…a high proportion of the work was very computational and generallymessy and some students were unhappy with that …

-Harvard math student of a summer REU

…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

First decide on a research problem … based on the “strength” of the student.•Challenging, but within their capability•With a short literatureGood problems may be of interest to someone in a more applied field. -J. Gallian (mathematics), 2003

When J.G. picked me up at the airportin 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.’ -Harvard student in Gallian’s REU

Sacrifice elegance for accessibility and possibility of progress?

Sacrifice possibility of progress for elegance and accessibility?

Sacrifice nothing ... not universally applicable ...

Lopatto’s “consideration items” seem particularly vital for minority/women students, but are important to all students.

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

‘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 ...?

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” effectsI was absolutely prepared. I worked for two years in a real research laboratory ofa 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

Are there other models ...?

Feminist theories of knowledge acquisition and science ...• 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.