Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

Research with First- and Second-Year Undergraduates: A New Model for Undergraduate Inquiry at Research Universities

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2002

Journal Title

Journal of Chemical Education

Volume

79

Issue

1

First Page

125

Abstract

One area of current interest in the field of chemical education is the use of undergraduates for doing research. Our group at the University of Kentucky has been very active in this area, many times employing nearly as many undergraduates as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Furthermore, because we have made a concerted effort to recruit undergraduates very early in their careers, most of our recruits are first- and second-year students. Although it goes against the popular view that only advanced students are useful for productive research, this system has been extremely successful for us, resulting in numerous publications and many other academic accomplishments. The key to our success is a hierarchical mentoring system in which each undergraduate is supervised by a graduate student, who is in turn supervised by the faculty advisor. In this way, an undergraduate can be quickly and effectively integrated into the lab and the world of true academic research.

Keywords

Undergraduate research, chemistry

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