scholarly journals Simulations, Imaging, and Modeling: A Unique Theme for an Undergraduate Research Program in Biomechanics

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. George ◽  
Zachary J. Domire
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Positive Research ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
School Based ◽  
Undergraduate Research Program ◽  
Qualitative Responses

As the reliance on computational models to inform experiments and evaluate medical devices grows, the demand for students with modeling experience will grow. In this paper, we report on the 3-yr experience of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) based on the theme simulations, imaging, and modeling in biomechanics. While directly applicable to REU sites, our findings also apply to those creating other types of summer undergraduate research programs. The objective of the paper is to examine if a theme of simulations, imaging, and modeling will improve students' understanding of the important topic of modeling, provide an overall positive research experience, and provide an interdisciplinary experience. The structure of the program and the evaluation plan are described. We report on the results from 25 students over three summers from 2014 to 2016. Overall, students reported significant gains in the knowledge of modeling, research process, and graduate school based on self-reported mastery levels and open-ended qualitative responses. This theme provides students with a skill set that is adaptable to other applications illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of modeling in biomechanics. Another advantage is that students may also be able to continue working on their project following the summer experience through network connections. In conclusion, we have described the successful implementation of the theme simulation, imaging, and modeling for an REU site and the overall positive response of the student participants.

scholarly journals Recommendations for Effective Integration of Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research (E/RCR) Education into Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. mr2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Diaz-Martinez ◽  
Ginger R. Fisher ◽  
David Esparza ◽  
Jay M. Bhatt ◽  
Christina E. D’Arcy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Responsible Conduct Of Research ◽  
Meeting Report ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Responsible Conduct ◽  
Effective Integration

Advancement of the scientific enterprise relies on individuals conducting research in an ethical and responsible manner. Educating emergent scholars in the principles of ethics/responsible conduct of research (E/RCR) is therefore critical to ensuring such advancement. The recent impetus to include authentic research opportunities as part of the undergraduate curriculum, via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), has been shown to increase cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. Because of these important benefits, CUREs are becoming more common and often constitute the first research experience for many students. However, despite the importance of E/RCR in the research process, we know of few efforts to incorporate E/RCR education into CUREs. The Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) was created to address this concern and promote the integration of E/RCR within CUREs in the biological sciences and related disciplines. During the inaugural ENCOUR meeting, a four-pronged approach was used to develop guidelines for the effective integration of E/RCR in CUREs. This approach included: 1) defining appropriate student learning objectives; 2) identifying relevant curriculum; 3) identifying relevant assessments; and 4) defining key aspects of professional development for CURE facilitators. Meeting outcomes, including the aforementioned E/RCR guidelines, are described herein.

A Six-Year Review of the Biomedical Engineering in Simulations, Imaging, and Modeling Undergraduate Research Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. George ◽  
Zachary J. Domire
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Summer Research Program ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Undergraduate research continues to serve as an effective strategy for mitigating the effects of a leaky pipeline. Significant funding from institutions and government agencies has increased the number of students participating in undergraduate research. In this paper, we report on the six-year experience of a National Science Foundation funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site: Biomedical Engineering in Simulations, Imaging, and Modeling (BME-SIM). The operation and evaluation of the program are both described. We report on the results from 55 students over six summers from 2014 to 2019. Our program was successful in attracting a diverse group of participants including 46% under-represented minority students and 53% women. Based on evaluation results, students reported significant gains in technical skills, communication skills, and knowledge of graduate school. Our findings indicate baseline gender differences for several learning outcomes, where women and nonbinary students report lower levels of mastery. These gaps are closed by the end of the program except for confidence in skills, which is still significantly lower than those reported by male counterparts. The impact of the experience on ultimate career path is difficult to determine due to underlying biases and other motivating factors; however, 67.6% of graduates have entered graduate programs. Finally, we have provided lessons learned for those who are interested in building a summer research program. In conclusion, we have described the successful implementation of an REU site and the positive learning outcomes of the student participants.

scholarly journals A Course-Based Research Experience: How Benefits Change with Increased Investment in Instructional Time

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Shaffer ◽  
Consuelo J. Alvarez ◽  
April E. Bednarski ◽  
David Dunbar ◽  
Anya L. Goodman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Instructional Time ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Widespread Agreement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Biology Curriculum

There is widespread agreement that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs should provide undergraduates with research experience. Practical issues and limited resources, however, make this a challenge. We have developed a bioinformatics project that provides a course-based research experience for students at a diverse group of schools and offers the opportunity to tailor this experience to local curriculum and institution-specific student needs. We assessed both attitude and knowledge gains, looking for insights into how students respond given this wide range of curricular and institutional variables. While different approaches all appear to result in learning gains, we find that a significant investment of course time is required to enable students to show gains commensurate to a summer research experience. An alumni survey revealed that time spent on a research project is also a significant factor in the value former students assign to the experience one or more years later. We conclude: 1) implementation of a bioinformatics project within the biology curriculum provides a mechanism for successfully engaging large numbers of students in undergraduate research; 2) benefits to students are achievable at a wide variety of academic institutions; and 3) successful implementation of course-based research experiences requires significant investment of instructional time for students to gain full benefit.

scholarly journals The Experience of Completing an Undergraduate Nursing Honors Research Project on the First Professional Nursing Position

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katlyn R. Antior ◽  
Antoinette K. Pugh
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Practice ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Nursing Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Undergraduate Research Project

Undergraduate research experiences have become a hallmark of excellence in degree programs in the science, technology, engineering and math fields, with indications that these experiences lay important groundwork for graduate education and practice in the field. In nursing, several schools offer undergraduate nursing research experiences, though there is scant research related to outcomes among nurses at the baccalaureate level. Since evidence-based practice (EBP) is becoming increasingly important in health care, the use of research-related skill sets has become more critical for practicing nurses. The benefits of undergraduate research experience have been inadequately studied and there have been no nursing studies on the impact of undergraduate nursing research experience on the practicing registered nurse. At a research intensive public university, a robust honors program exposes students to research throughout the baccalaureate degree, with student engagement in every step of the research process alongside faculty research mentors. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore the experiences and outcomes of participation in a significant undergraduate research project on the first few years of nursing practice as an RN. Data analysis was conducted using an open coding method to analyze the responses of the participants and aid in the process of identifying major themes that express the phenomenon. Through this approach a descriptive analysis of the experience of completing an undergraduate research project was completed, including the impact on the nursing practice and development of the participants in their early careers. The results suggest that extensive exposure to research in undergraduate schooling increases the level of self-confidence in the first nursing position. Participants also felt that they stood out from their peers. Other benefits include expanding knowledge regarding the research process, improving writing and public speaking skills, and advancing personal and professional development.

Course-Based Undergraduate Research: A Review of Models and Practices

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Harris ◽  
Mohammed Babkoor ◽  
Tianchang Gu ◽  
Gül E. Kremer
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Complex Problems ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Student Teams

Based on the available evidence from published literature, we reviewed the effectiveness of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). In many cases, CUREs present open-ended, complex problems that student teams tackle. Our review of 41 published articles, additional archival research, and semi-structured interviews identified multiple benefits of CUREs, including their ability to introduce larger numbers of students to research than is possible within traditional, apprenticeship-style models for undergraduate research experiences. We identified outcomes of CUREs as well as obstacles to their successful implementation. We recommended a set of features for consideration for future CURE implementers. A brief comparison of CURE with REU, or Research Experience for Undergraduate, is also included in the paper.

Collaboration Synergy, Progression, and Perseverance: Keys to Successful Undergraduate Research

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subha Kumpaty ◽  
Vipin Paliwal ◽  
Todd Parrish
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
The Past ◽  
Undergraduate Research Program ◽  
Northwestern University ◽  
Brain Modeling ◽  
Individual Project ◽  
The Right

The primary author has been the principal investigator of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation for the past twenty years. Reflecting on the most recent projects, the authors present some keys to success at the undergraduate level, especially with the limitation of only a 10-week duration for the summer research enterprise. With a clear designation of an individual project to be passionately owned by a participant, ensuring success by each participant warrants many ingredients to be in place and the cooperation of various constituents at the right time and pace. In the grand scheme of this research experience, the participant develops and grows, bringing the wholeness to the purpose for which the program exists. Some fascinating observations of the summer undergraduate research program are presented as key ingredients to the success. These include but are not limited to collaboration, synergy, progression and perseverance. The work includes two streams: brain modeling projects over several years under Dr. Kumpaty’s advisement in collaboration with Dr. Parrish of Northwestern University and cell proliferation projects conducted by Dr. Paliwal with various REU students from year to year. Thee sustainable concepts are interwoven throughout the discussion. The most important feature of MSOE REU is the fact that undergraduate researchers conduct a unique project on an individual basis with the help of a faculty advisor and the cohort works in an interdisciplinary setting throughout the 10-week program in summer.

Seeding undergraduate research experience: From Georgia Tech to KFUPM case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-323
Author(s):  
Samir Al-Ghadhban ◽  
Ali Muqaibel ◽  
Ghassan Alregib ◽  
Ali Al-Shaikhi
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Group Structure ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Georgia Tech ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
Experience Survey

In this paper, implementation and outcomes of an undergraduate research course are presented. The associated gains and learning outcomes of the course are evaluated and benchmarked with other international undergraduate research experiences. The course was offered to undergraduate students at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). The research group structure adopts Georgia Tech model. The paper summarizes the course structure, content, and best practices. In addition, the results of undergraduate research experience survey are presented and analyzed. The students reported significant gains in understanding of the research process and significant improvements in writing and oral presentation skills.

scholarly journals Assessment of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Corwin Auchincloss ◽  
Sandra L. Laursen ◽  
Janet L. Branchaw ◽  
Kevin Eagan ◽  
Mark Graham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Meeting Report ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Foundation Program ◽  
Definition Of

The Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Network (CUREnet) was initiated in 2012 with funding from the National Science Foundation program for Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education. CUREnet aims to address topics, problems, and opportunities inherent to integrating research experiences into undergraduate courses. During CUREnet meetings and discussions, it became apparent that there is need for a clear definition of what constitutes a CURE and systematic exploration of what makes CUREs meaningful in terms of student learning. Thus, we assembled a small working group of people with expertise in CURE instruction and assessment to: 1) draft an operational definition of a CURE, with the aim of defining what makes a laboratory course or project a “research experience”; 2) summarize research on CUREs, as well as findings from studies of undergraduate research internships that would be useful for thinking about how students are influenced by participating in CUREs; and 3) identify areas of greatest need with respect to CURE assessment, and directions for future research on and evaluation of CUREs. This report summarizes the outcomes and recommendations of this meeting.

scholarly journals Early year undergraduate researchers’ reflections on the values and perceived costs of their research experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaye D. Ceyhan ◽  
John W. Tillotson
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Expectancy Value ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Background Prior research reported that motivational beliefs that individuals attach to specific tasks predict continuing interest and persistence in the task. A motivational approach may be particularly useful for understanding undergraduate students’ engagement with research in their first and second years in college. The current study utilizes the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation to qualitatively explore how much and in what ways early year undergraduate researchers value their research experience and what kinds of costs they associate with it. Results The results revealed that intrinsic value had the highest expression in participants’ motivation to engage in research. The second most expressed value type was the utility value of undergraduate research with regards to obtaining the desired outcomes, and attainment value played the least important role in participants’ motivation to engage in research. Findings also indicated that some of the participants associated a cost(s) to their research experience. The highest mentioned perceived cost was opportunity cost, where participants commented on losing other valued alternatives when engaging in research. Participants commented on the time, effort, or amount of work needed to engage in research, and a few participants commented on the emotional cost associated with their research experience in terms of the fear of failure. Conclusion As perceived cost is the least studied in the expectancy-value framework, this study contributes to cost values within college students, particularly about early year undergraduate researchers. The findings of this study can form the basis for future work on exploring ways to increase the values and decrease the costs students experience in their undergraduate research experiences.

scholarly journals Student music stimuli composition in a scaffolded course-based undergraduate research experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Abbey L. Dvorak ◽  
Eugenia Hernandez-Ruiz ◽  
Halle Nick ◽  
Ruowen Qi ◽  
Celeste Alderete ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Teaching Model ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Graduate Assistants ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) allow students opportunities to develop research skills. In a scaffolded CURE, music therapy and music education students composed, evaluated, and selected the music stimuli used in a music and mindfulness study with non-musicians at Site 1 and musicians at Site 2. The purposes of this paper are to (a) describe the process of student music stimuli composition and evaluation for use in a course-based undergraduate research experience and (b) identify benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from the viewpoints of students, graduate assistants, and faculty who participated in the multi-site study. Eight students, two graduate assistants, and two faculty provide an overview of the CURE teaching model and assignments, and share first-person accounts of their experiences participating in this CURE.  

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