Under the microscope | A 'vibrant' research culture is growing

If you want to fit in at Penn but want to try something different than rushing a fraternity or singing a cappella, consider research.

Though research is typically associated with graduate students in lab coats, at Penn and peer institutions, undergraduate interest in research seems to be on the rise - and it's taking many different forms.

The undergraduate research culture at Penn is "very motivated," according to Wallace Genser, associate director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

"Students are very curious about a lot of different fields," he said, naming biomedicine, economics, business, international relations and political science as areas of interest.

He added that environmental studies is garnering recent attention.

Nine-year-old CURF used to focus more on fellowships but is now increasingly promoting research for undergraduates through new programs and approaches.

Genser said Penn students are "pretty adaptable and resourceful in identifying opportunities."

Though CURF has not yet compiled a comprehensive survey to determine the exact number of students involved in research at Penn, climbing participation in its programs reflects increased interest.

CURF, for example, is holding the third annual Provost's Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program this summer, available to rising sophomores interested in doing research under faculty members across all 12 schools. For this upcoming summer, 180 freshmen applied and 35 were able to get funding, Genser said.

It was also "pretty enlightening" to Genser that almost 200 students applied to CURF's research preceptorials - two-hour sessions with faculty and student researcher panels.

A rise in interest

Penn is not alone in its almost newfound fervor for undergraduate research.

Meg Swift, the director of the Harvard Student Employment Office and Undergraduate Research Programs, said, "There has always been a lot of research going on, but now more than ever the students are forming cohorts of peers to sort of learn and get tips from each other and support one another."

Though three new student research groups were formed in the past three years, Swift explained, the office also offers a program that funds independent undergraduate research under faculty member mentors.

Stem cell research and both international and domestic human-rights research are growing areas of interest.

The full breadth of undergraduate research cannot be determined, she added, because some departments don't go through the office to hire research assistants.

Getting the word out

Getting published in research journals is a major component of any research community, and universities are responding to this need.

There are currently 11 undergraduate research journals listed on CURF's Web site, one of which is PennScience, a journal dedicated to undergraduate scientific research.

Since August 2007, PennScience has received about five to eight manuscripts per semester, editor-in-chief and Engineering junior Matthew Canver wrote in an e-mail, attesting to the popularity of scientific research at Penn.

In the sciences, "biological and medical research seem to be the most popular just from my own personal experience and according to the submissions that PennScience receives," he explained. He said interest is not surprising, given connections to the School of Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania.

He also noted the general "vibrant" research community at Penn. "There is an emphasis on research at Penn and it shows based on the success of CURF and, in particular, the University Scholars program."

At Columbia University, the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal, now in its fourth year, is similarly reflective of the thriving research environment.

Editor-in-chief and Columbia College senior Asya Izraelit wrote in an e-mail, "It is not uncommon for undergraduates at Columbia to spend 15-20 hours in a lab in addition to maintaining busy class schedules and extracurricular activities."

In addition to the 13 submissions to the CUSJ this year, Columbia students almost doubled the number of submissions - 49 in total - to the Columbia University Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium, a symposium filled with presentations and student talks from student researchers from across the Northeast, Izraelit said.

Not all manuscripts are in the sciences, though.

Katharine Kendrick, a senior at Yale University and the editor-in-chief of the Yale Globalist, an international-relations journal, has observed a "big surge" of interest across the university.

With upwards of 60 submissions over the year, the Globalist also sends its staff on a two-week research trip every May - most recently to Venezuela and India - and compiles a series of articles based on their reporting, Kendrick explained.

Helping hands

Despite all the strength of independent efforts by undergraduate researchers, the presence of faculty mentors seems to be strongly encouraged.

For example, "to get published in a national journal in a field, that's really where the faculty role comes in," Genser said, especially in terms of the possibility of co-authoring articles with a professor.

Students are usually succcessful in approaching potential faculty member mentors, Genser said.

He advised new, proactive student researchers to "prepare themselves, develop a resume, put together a brief, concise, but thoughtful e-mail to the professor" about their interests and possible contributions, and to just "go for it."

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