麻豆淫院

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program takes initiative to expand pool of students receiving awards

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Laboratory culture is such a deeply ingrained aspect of most STEM鈥攕cience, technology, engineering and math鈥攄isciplines that the image of a white-coated lab researcher is an icon of American media and entertainment.

But there鈥檚 a reason you aren鈥檛 likely to see a Hollywood blockbuster featuring a laboratory dedicated to, say, American literature, philosophy, Italian languages or any other arts and humanities discipline: For the most part, researchers in those disciplines work as individuals, and not on laboratory teams.

This fact has posed a challenge to CU Boulder鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), which provides funding opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct research while working with faculty in their fields of study.

鈥淲e鈥檝e noticed over the years that students in the arts and humanities are underrepresented in the UROP applicant pool, and, ultimately, in receiving awards,鈥� says Tim O鈥橬eil, assistant director of Special Undergraduate Enrichment Programs (SUEP), which oversees UROP.

鈥淪TEM has a laboratory culture and collaborative team structure that allows novice students to stair-step their way into competencies, significant contributions and collaborations with individual researchers,鈥� O鈥橬eil says. 鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 part of the culture, (STEM) students can see those pathways more clearly.鈥�

But because research in the arts and humanities tends to be more individualized, students in those fields are less aware of research opportunities鈥攐r of UROP.

With that in mind, UROP recently launched an effort to encourage increased participation among arts and humanities undergraduates by providing departmental development grants of up to $4,000 to faculty.

鈥淭his is to develop the kinds of programs that will foster discussion and help create a culture within departments,鈥� O鈥橬eil says. 听

The program also provides support to faculty for attending undergraduate research conferences as well as funding for students. SUEP听 will also host an undergraduate-research best-practices colloquium during the 2017 fall semester for faculty and students.

鈥淐onducting research really has the potential to open students鈥� eyes to what they are doing as undergraduates,鈥� O鈥橬eil says. 鈥淚t also serves a pragmatic function for students planning to go to graduate or professional school. It鈥檚 a wonderful process of self-discovery for students.鈥�

Collaborative research opportunities also help students hone critical-thinking skills, ethical standards, the ability to locate and evaluate information and develop complex arguments.

Germanic studies and classics major Nicholas Zyzda couldn鈥檛 agree more. After learning about UROP through a friend, Zyzda applied for and received an individual grant, which allowed him to team with Arne H枚cker, assistant professor of Germanic and Slavic languages and literature, last summer.

Their partnership resulted in a paper titled, 鈥淢adness and Science in Georg Buchner鈥檚 Lenz.鈥� Zyzda says he got to live the life of a research academic, an experience that 鈥済ave me insight into choosing a PhD as a potential career path.鈥�

鈥淭he UROP program gave me an amazing opportunity鈥� to engage in rigorous scholarly research in a way that I never could have without it, and has done a great deal to prepare me for graduate studies,鈥� he says.

Applications for summer 2017 UROP grants open in November and will be due in February. To learn more, go to .