What is the Undergraduate Research Program?
Program Philosophy
The University of Delaware believes that exceptionally capable and well-motivated
students should be given a chance, while they are still beginners, to see and have
a part in what is happening at the frontiers of knowledge and creative work today.
Toward that end, undergraduates work as assistants or junior members of their faculty
research teams. Preparing to do their own research, they have the opportunity to
share in a professional researcher's work, to learn how he or she formulates a significant
question, evolves a procedure to investigate it, obtains research funding and other
resources, gathers and examines evidence, follows hunches, detects loopholes, evaluates
and shares results with the scientific, scholarly, or artistic community. Advanced
undergraduate researchers may continue as junior collaborators or undertake their
own projects as senior theses.
Program Participants
The Undergraduate Research Program, located at 12 W. Delaware Avenue, is open to
all interested undergraduates. Students who hold college work-study grants may earn
their grant money doing research. In the summers, a salary or stipend is often possible.
Undergraduate researchers are typically sophomores, juniors and seniors. Some are
looking for the field or specialty within a field on which they want to focus their
courses and careers; others are already making their own original contributions
to their chosen fields.
Program Services
The program provides:
- general information to students thinking about whether a research experience would
be desirable for them.
- advisement to individual students on how to identify and approach a faculty researcher
with whom they would like to work.
- two forms of funding: supply-and-expense grants to defray the research expenses
of students and their faculty sponsors, and 2) scholarships to enable students to
work full-time on their research during the summer and during the winter session.
- opportunities for research abroad through InterFuture (individual cross-cultural
research abroad), the Imperial College Exchange (summer science and engineering
research assistance in London), and other international research programs for undergraduates.
- many forms of assistance to students writing senior theses for the Honors Degree
with Distinction and the Degree with Distinction.
- opportunities for students to present and publish their research.
- the Undergraduate Research Reading Room (12 W. Delaware Avenue), which holds senior
theses by former students and copies of research articles by faculty and students,
as well as information on research programs, undergraduate and graduate scholarships,
and research prizes.
- advisement concerning application to graduate school.
How Can a Student Begin Undergraduate Research?
Undergraduate research can begin as early as the freshman year. Initial participation
may simply involve advisement and browsing through the Undergraduate Research Reading
Room. A good beginning step is to talk about research with one or more professors
in a field of study that is particularly interesting to you. At the same time, you
should schedule a talk with an advisor in the Undergraduate Research Office (12
W. Delaware Avenue, 831-8995 or UndergradResearch@udel.edu)
and/or with the faculty member who serves as Undergraduate Research advisor for
students in your major department.. The advisors can help you to clarify your research
interests, abilities, and time commitments and help you to identify and approach
appropriate faculty researchers.
A student may work with a faculty researcher as an assistant for much of his or
her undergraduate career. By the junior year, an individual research project may
emerge; and that project may become the thesis component of a Degree with Distinction
or Honors Degree with Distinction. Various combinations are possible:
- Students may serve as research assistants and may conduct their own independent
research projects without going on for a Degree with Distinction or Honors Degree
With Distinction.
- Students may also begin their Degree with Distinction or Honors Degree with Distinction
research and thesis work without first serving as a research assistant. Experience
as a research assistant, however, will certainly help a student plan and carry out
the research component that is required of both Degrees; and the thesis topic often
evolves from the work begun as a research assistant.
What Recognition Does an Undergraduate Assistant Receive?
Undergraduate research assistance resembles work done in an independent study or
special problems course in that it must be worthy of academic credit, which is awarded
for learning accomplished by the student. At the same time, it resembles paid forms
of research assistance in that a worker is being rewarded for productivity on a
project. In the Undergraduate Research Program, a student may work either for credit
or for some form of a salary/stipend (when available), with the understanding that
in all cases the learning accomplished by the student must be worthy of academic
credit. While a student should not receive both full credit and full salary, in
some cases a combination of credit and pay may need to be worked out. Three different
possible arrangements are outlined below. Actual terms are worked out between individual
students and their faculty sponsors.
Credit
Most students earn academic credit for their research assistance, from one to six
or more credits per semester depending upon the amount of work agreed upon by the
student and the professor. Some curricula limit the number of independent research
credits permitted for a degree. During the fall and spring semesters, for three
hours of credit, a student is expected to work an average minimum of ten hours per
week; for two credit hours, seven hours per week; for one credit hour, four hours
per week. During Winter and Summer Sessions, for three credits a student is expected
to work 25 hours per week. Unless a department has a designated research course
number, an undergraduate researcher registers for 166, 266, 366 or 466 in the department
of the faculty sponsor. (The course sequence number includes college, department,
_66 level and the faculty sponsor's name.) Student and faculty decide whether the
credits should be pass/fail or letter graded (but note that some departments have
a department-wide policy concerning the grading of research assistance done for
credit). Students must indicate an intention to take the credits as pass/fail at
the time of registration. When registering, students may also submit a titling form,
obtainable from the Student Services Office, to record the title of their research
project.
Honors Credit
Students intending to pursue the General Honors Certificate or Honors Degree with
Distinction may request from the Undergraduate Research Office classification of
research credits as Honors-designated.
Salary/Stipend
Some students, generally advanced undergraduates, have reached a point where they
cannot use any more elective credits. Some must earn a certain amount of personal
support each term and cannot find time to handle, in addition to a full course load,
both an outside job and research. For these students, a salary/stipend is the most
desirable arrangement. Funds can come from a faculty member's research grant or,
if the student has a work-study grant, approximately 75% from Financial Aid and
25% from the faculty member's department. Work-study grants may also, under some
circumstances, be available from the Undergraduate Research Program.
Volunteer
This is sometimes a good beginning place for first-year students who may not wish
to make a large time commitment. Volunteers do not receive pay or credit, but can
pick up pointers from graduate students and older undergraduates, sleuth in the
library, learn where equipment is kept, how to use some of the computer programs,
machinery, etc., while reading about the subject being investigated. Volunteer research
is also an alternative for students who have no need of credit and are involved
in a research project that is not funded. The terms of a volunteer commitment are
qualitatively the same as those of an undergraduate research commitment recognized
by credit or funding.
What Records Are Kept for an Undergraduate Research Project?
Students are required to submit to the Undergraduate Research Office, before beginning
work, a LETTER OF INTENT
that has been composed in consultation with the faculty sponsor and is signed by
both the student and the faculty sponsor. The Letter of Intent includes a description
of the topic, plan of research, estimated timetable, location, budget (if any),
what tasks and how many hours per week will be expected of the student participant.
Letter of Intent forms are available at http://urp.udel.edu/forms/student.aspx.
EVALUATION LETTER
At the end of each term, an informal evaluation letter is required from each faculty
member and student who has participated in a project during the term. The letter
remains completely confidential. Its purpose is to aid the development and improvement
of the Undergraduate Research Program. A researcher failing to submit an evaluation
letter is ineligible for any funding from the Undergraduate Research Program until
an evaluation letter has been received.
A student's letter should report briefly on the technical and scholarly progress
of his/her work, on the educational and personal aspects of the undergraduate research
experience, and on the plans for next term. The letter should comment as frankly
and specifically as possible on the student's personal and professional growth as
a result of participation. It should be specific about the nature of the faculty
supervision, help, moral and financial support received. It should give the Undergraduate
Research Program suggestions for improving the workings of the program, where possible.
The program is especially interested to know how students judge their research experience
as a component of their undergraduate education. How does what they learn in undergraduate
research compare to more standard course work? Would they want to see more time
made available in their schedule for research or similar activities? If they did
research off-campus, what challenges did they encounter, especially in maintaining
contact with their faculty supervisors, and how did they deal with those challenges?
Faculty should report what students were working with them and on what tasks, whether
they are satisfied with the contribution and effort made by each student, and whether
the students will be continuing on the project. The Program is especially interested
to work with faculty to increase available resources and to eliminate bureaucratic
hurdles affecting the participation of undergraduates in research. Evaluations should
therefore include specific information about needs in these areas that have arisen
during their work with undergraduate assistants or thesis students. Faculty may
e-mail or telephone their reports to the Undergraduate Research Program Coordinator
if they wish (undergradresearch@udel.edu;
or ext. 8995).
Discovery Learning Credit
The Discovery Learning graduation requirement can be fulfilled by taking three credits
of undergraduate research.
Research Skills Courses
Several University departments provide research courses for undergraduates in their
disciplines. Courses are regularly offered in Art History, Communication, Entomology
and Wildlife Ecology, Heath and Exercise Science, History, Nursing, and Political
Science. Students should inquire within their own major departments whether a course
is regularly offered or might be offered by an individual faculty member.