The concept of providing top-level science research experience to Washington State University undergraduate students comes down to one thing — giving them the opportunity to work in a laboratory. That in turn is an issue of time, space and money.
Three years ago, WSU adopted its 2002-2007 Strategic Plan, committing itself to building a nationally recognized academic program for undergraduates at a research university — one that offers face-to-face mentoring with recognized researchers (see http://provost.wsu.edu/strategic_plan/documents/OfficeofResearch.pdf).
Since then, undergraduate research programs have been expanding to the limits of their funding and resources.
Several colleges and units on campus have “made a commitment to provide the necessary funding,” said Michael Skinner, director of the Center for Integrated Biotechnology (CIB). The three largest programs are offered through:
• the Center for Integrated Biotechnology (http://www.biotechnology.wsu.edu/training),
• the College of Sciences (http://www.sci.wsu.edu/cos/studentofthemonth.html), and
• the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Neuroscience Program http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp
And other units are attempting to provide financial support for summer stipends and small grants, so their students can participate.
A profitable summer
Some undergrad research positions — about 15 coordinated by the CIB and about 10 through the College of Sciences — are offered strictly in the summer. One reason, Skinner explained, is that the number of labs on campus is limited. Second, undergraduate students are busy taking classes for their bachelor’s degree during the regular academic school year. So, “summer is the best time for some undergraduates to gain intense research experience.
“Our students spend 8-10 weeks in labs, working eight hours a day, and are very productive,” he said.
One of the biggest limiting factors in expanding the CIB’s undergraduate research program, Skinner said, is finances. An investigating laboratory sponsoring a student has to come up with $2,500 to provide a summer student stipend — the same amount provided by the College of Sciences.
Participating students want to learn, Skinner said, “but they also are in the lab to make money. Students won’t stick around for free; they need to make money to continue on in school.”
CIB’s undergraduate program is not just for biology students; it is a campuswide effort, including faculty from seven colleges — Liberal Arts, Engineering and Architecture, Business and Economics, Science, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Pharmacy.
The College of Sciences limits its undergraduate research positions to students with majors within that college.
Applications & nominations
Applying for an undergraduate research position is fairly simple, but students must find a faculty member in a participating college who will nominate and find funding.
Last summer the Center for Biotechnology sponsored 10 undergraduate researchers; this year that number will jump to 15. The College of Sciences will see its numbers jump from 10 to 20 this summer, plus it will host an additional four undergrad researchers sponsored by the Honors College. Each student receives a $2,500 stipend or grant and works full time, which works out to $6.25 to $7.80 per hour.
The student application/nomination process is fairly simple:
• Students who want to participate express their interest to the appropriate faculty. The application form can be found at http://www.biotechnology.wsu.edu/training/summerfellowapp.html).
• Faculty members from participating centers nominate students to a review board or steering committee.
• A steering committee reviews the pool of candidates and selects the student(s) they want for each position.
Students are selected based upon: academic major and performance; research experience; faculty recommendations; how the student matches up with the position; and availability of money, lab space and supervisory faculty and staff. At the end of a summer fellowship, each student is required to make a poster presentation, summarizing their project and data.
And during the regular year
In addition to summer research positions, both the College of Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Neuroscience program offer undergrad research posts during the regular academic year. Similar to summer session, the College of Sciences offers a mini grant to its student researchers.
However, in the neuroscience program, which is primarily housed in the Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology and Physiology (VCAPP) department, undergraduate research is handled a bit differently. Sandra Brabb, assistant director of Neurosciences, said the program requires that neuroscience students have a minimum of three credit hours of research before they graduate. Some are paid and some are partially paid, if not for credit.
Sometimes, she added, if there is a research need and a student is interested, summer positions can be arranged.
The application process is a bit different with VCAPP. Brabb said she “connects students with the faculty and then they put together a contract that spells out how many hours per week the student works, the obligations and the mentoring they will receive.”
At the conclusion of their senior year, Brabb said, students have to present a poster or an oral presentation on laboratory experience and research. Fifteen students will make presentations this semester.
Who benefits?
Supporters contend that undergraduate research offers benefits on a multitude of levels.
“When students come here, they usually are sitting in classrooms listening to theory or are in labs repeating experiments that have been done over and over for years with predicted results,” said V.S. ”Mano” Manoranjan, associate dean and professor in the College of Sciences, who manages that undergraduate research program.
Undergraduate research, on the other hand, “gives them something they can work on independently and call it their own. Students know they are learning something and are seeing how classroom theory is applied. It also gives them the opportunity to see junior- and senior-level researchers at work,” he said.
Some universities, especially nonresearch institutions, do not provide this opportunity.
In addition, the requirement to write a report and/or make a presentation, and defend the research work done, is a benefit. Some students even progress to the point of being a co-author on a scientific publication.
“After you go out in the world and work with a team of people who have the knowledge and skills, the ability to make presentations, defend your work and answer questions is a enormous advantage,” said Manoranjan.
About 10 years ago, Manoranjan said his college and the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center conducted a survey of students who graduated two to three years earlier from the College of Sciences. They were asked for impressions of whether their education prepared them for life outside college and for their jobs. (A similar survey is currently in the works for 2005.)
Students who were undergraduate researchers said that experience was “very beneficial to them in landing a job, and that through it they learned how to be a productive employee,” Manoranjan said.
How does WSU benefit?
As expected, interest in undergraduate research programs is growing rapidly as they gain recognition. This year, the CIB received approximately 50 nominations for its 15 positions, while the College of Sciences fielded more than 40 nominations for 20 positions.
These positions are a benefit to faculty and staff, who gain a research assistant, as well as to the university at large, said Skinner.
“Many of the best students want to go where they have the best opportunity, which often includes research” within the university or with a partnering corporation, said Skinner. “So, offering students the opportunity to get hands-on experience is a big plus in attracting the best undergrad students.”
Undergraduate research also benefits the university, said Skinner and Manoranjan, in that these students have an opportunity to work beside some of the best people in their field of interest, which may attract them to come back as graduate or post graduate students. And, they’ll carry on the message about the level of quality in research offered at WSU.
During the College of Sciences’ poster presentations, Manoranjan said, representatives of its board of advisors said they were “very impressed” and that “some of the posters were far superior to some they had seen at national professional society meetings.”
