Category: Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate Research

01/7/15

Student Research Conferences at UM-Flint

Have you written a great paper for class? Conducted a cool research project? Worked with a faculty member as a research assistant? If so, please sign up to present at our upcoming student research conferences!

Why Present? Presenting at conferences not only allows you to interact with other students and faculty, but also allows you to showcase the work you’ve done. Presenting at conferences and getting published goes a LONG WAY in bolstering your resume and applying for graduate schools. Also, presenting your work at professional conferences give you a competitive edge and help you stand out from other students.

What Can I Present? In short: ANYTHING! Whether it’s a paper you wrote for class, a reading you’d like to do, a performance (music, skits, etc), an independent research project, or work you did as an assistant on a faculty’s project. All presentations are accepted!

Where Can I Present? UM-Flint is sponsoring two big conferences this year:

  • Meeting of Minds (MOM) is a collaborative conference for undergraduate students, co-sponsored by UM-Flint, UM-Dearborn, and Oakland University. This year’s MOM will take place at UM-Dearborn on Friday, May 9, 2015.
  • The UM-Flint Student Research Conference (SRC) is a campus-wide event showcasing research and creative activities from BOTH undergraduate and graduate students. Now in its 5th year, SRC will take place on Friday, March 27, 2015 at the Riverfront Residence Hall and Event Center.

Both conferences allow students to do oral presentations, poster presentations, performances, and demonstrations. Additionally, students who present are eligible to have the papers they present published in the journals respective to each conference.

For information about Meeting of Minds or to sign up, visit: www.umflint.edu/research/MOM. For information on the UM-Flint Student Research Conference, visit: www.umflint.edu/research/SRC.

We look forward to seeing your work!

09/10/12

Welcome Back Students!

This is always an exciting time of year for the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs staff, as we get to meet new students and welcome back those of you who are returning. And now that the semester is settling in, I would like to share information about several terrific student research opportunities available.

Why do research?

Many of our student researchers have directly attributed their academic achievement and career development to their participation in research. Particularly, some benefits of participating in research include:

  • The opportunity to stand out from students without research experience, especially when applying for jobs, graduate schools, professional schools, etc.
  • The chance to engage in “hands on” projects that often go beyond what is learned in the classroom
  • Building close relationships with faculty (especially helpful when students need letters of recommendation, references, etc.)
  • The opportunity to earn wages, class credit, or service hours.

How can you participate in research?

Work as a research assistant: Undergraduates, if you are interested in working on a faculty project, you are invited to join the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). UROP offers opportunities for students to earn wages, use their work study, or earn service hours working directly with faculty researchers. For more information, visit www.umflint.edu/research/UROP under “Student Corner.”

Graduate students can conduct research through the Graduate Student Research Assistantship program, managed by the Office of Graduate Programs. Information for this program is available at: http://www.umflint.edu/graduateprograms/tuition-financial-aid/research-assistantships.page

Present your research: Mark your calendars for several conferences where students can showcase their work:

  •  The 21st annual Meeting of Minds Undergraduate Research Conference (MOM): A conference which provides students from UM-Flint, UM-Dearborn, and Oakland University an opportunity to share their research with through poster, oral, or performance-based presentations. This event is open to students from all majors. If you are interested in presenting your research, getting published in the annual journal, boosting your resume for jobs/grad school, and are interested in learning about other students’ research, Meeting of Minds is for you! The next MOM will take place on Friday, May 10, 2013, right here on campus! Registration will open in early January. For more information, visit www.umflint.edu/research/MOM.
  • The 3rd annual University of Michigan-Flint Student Research Conference (SRC): This campus-wide research conference showcases the efforts of UM-Flint students. Both undergraduate and graduate students of all majors will have the opportunity to present their work at this conference, as well as to get published in the conference proceedings. This year’s SRC will also take place on campus on Friday, April 5, 2013. Registration for this event will also open in early January. For more information, visit www.umflint.edu/research/SRC.

While these events aren’t taking place until next semester, we encourage you to start thinking about presenting now!

Develop your skills: Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will be hosting a variety of skill-building workshops throughout the year. To see our full lineup, please visit: http://www.umflint.edu/research/workshop_schedule.htm.

Stay connected: There will be many more developments in the upcoming months. Stay connected with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs by joining us on Facebook (under UM-Flint Office of Research and Sponsored Programs), following us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/UMFlintResearch) or visiting our blog at: /research/.

As always, you can learn more about our programs and opportunities by visiting our website, www.umflint.edu/research, under “Student Resources.”

We hope you take advantage of the support services in place for you. We’re here to serve you. Have a great year!

10/6/11

UM-Flint Students and Faculty Research Grand Blanc’s History

From Mel Serow, University Relations:

If you live in an older house, you may have wondered who lived there before you moved in. UM-Flint students are currently working in the archives of the City of Grand Blanc Heritage Museum and older city neighborhoods, doing research that will identify who lived in or actually built some of the houses that date back to the 1800s.

The Grand Blanc Historic Resource Survey is a research project jointly conducted by Thomas Henthorn of the Department of History and Greg Rybarcyzk of Earth and Resource Sciences. In March 2011, the city of Grand Blanc hired Professors Henthorn and Rybarcyzk to conduct an investigation of historic structures in the city. The result of this investigation will be an inventory of historic properties and maps that detail the location of structures and historic neighborhoods. These types of surveys are used by local governments as a planning tool. By locating historic properties and places within a municipality, local governments are better prepared to protect historic places.

For the next year, students from UM-Flint will be in Grand Blanc conducting archival research and field work to trace the genealogy of the historic homes and structures.

“This is a great way to get research experience by being able to get out of the classroom and work closely with your classmates,” noted history major Renee Gonzales. “It’s a unique perspective on history, and definitely a unique class.”

History Major Jason Lorenz says he is doing something that matters, and the research will produce results that can be shared with many other people.

“So much of what we learn is from other people’s papers,” according to Lorenz. “When you do your own research, with each step you find something new, and you become more interested in it.”

“We are providing experiential learning opportunities for students in a number of ways,” remarked Henthorn.

Some students are being employed as student researchers through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program from the Office of Research. Other students are aiding in the survey through coursework such as the class assignment in Henthorn’s “Introduction to Historic Preservation.” In both cases, students visit a variety of archival repositories such as the Genesee County Register of Deeds, Grand Blanc Heritage Museum, or Flint Public Library. Students then conduct fieldwork to photograph properties and record their physical features.

Beginning in January, students from Earth and Resource Sciences will begin creating maps based on the research conducted in the fall.

The contract is being funded by a Community Foundation of Greater Flint Grant.

Source

Several of Dr. Henthorn’s students have been provided research funding through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.

02/24/11

UM-Flint Student Creates Android Applications

From the M-Times:

Having trouble learning Mandarin? Do you have dif­ficulty distinguishing colors? A UM-Flint student has created two Android Apps that help the user with these problems.

Dan Lamb, a senior ma­joring in business, has been programming for 15 years.

…

While at UM-Flint, Lamb studied Mandarin Chinese for two semesters. Eventually, he got tired of making flashcards, so he made an Android App to help him study. The App is called ChineseFlashcards and includes 20 units of vocabulary from “Cheng & Tsui Inte­grated Chinese, Level 1 Part 1 & 2.”

Lamb’s other Android App is Colorvision, a program that uses the phone’s camera to identify what color is in the on-screen crosshairs. It has a mode for either a simplified color palette, or a standard palette of 145 colors. Lamb’s inspiration for this application was his own red/green colorblindness.

Lamb is currently working on several games for the An­droid when he has extra time, which has not been often this semester.

Source

01/27/11

Student Research Conference Registration Now Open

Registration is open for both the Meeting of Minds Undergraduate Research Conference and the UM-Flint Student Research Conference.

Meeting of Minds (MOM) is a collaborative event, co-sponsored by UM-Flint, UM-Dearborn, and Oakland University; with particular interest in undergraduate research and creative activity. Oppositely, the UM-Flint Student Research Conference (SRC) is a campus-only event showcasing research and creative activities from BOTH undergraduate and graduate students.

Both conferences provide students an opportunity to do oral presentations, poster presentations, performances, and demostrations. Additionally, students who present have the opportunity to have the papers they present published in the conference journal.

Oakland University is the site for this year’s MOM. The event will take place on Friday, May 13, 2011. The UM-Flint SRC will take place here at the University of Michigan-Flint on Friday, April 1, 2011. For more information, visit the following sites:

For Meeting of Minds: www.umflint.edu/research/MOM

For the UM-Flint Student Research Conference: www.umflint.edu/research/SRC

Sign up today!

01/13/11

UM-Flint Students Help Preserve Buick’s History

From the Mel Serow, University Relations:

Sloan Museum’s Buick Gallery and Research Center houses the history of the once Flint-based Buick Motor Division. Each semester, the staff of the center welcome history students from the University of Michigan-Flint for a unique learning experience as Collections Management Interns. Interns receive supervised, hands-on experience working directly with the faculty and staff, curating the museum’s collection of records that chronicle the history of the carmaker.

Staff members provide the most direct supervision working with the interns on defined projects as part of the learning strategy developed by the interns’ faculty supervisor. Over the course of one semester, students complete 100 hours of supervised work, learning methods in museum practices and records management.

[…]

[UM-Flint History Professor Thomas] Henthorn hopes to use the Buick collections internship as a model for other community partnerships that will help the university expand its internship program and meet the learning needs of the student as well as the needs of the community.

Full article

11/19/10

US House of Representatives Declare Undergraduate Research Week April 11, 2011

From the desk of Nancy Hensel, Executive Office of the Council on Undergraduate Research:

On November 16, 2010 the United States House of Representatives voted to declare the week of April 11, 2011 as Undergraduate Research Week. We and Washington Partners drafted a resolution and it was carried forward by Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey. Representatives Glen Thompson of Pennsylvania and Representative Mazie Hirono of Hawaii spoke in favor of the bill. Below are links to the C-Span recordings of their remarks and I have attached a copy of the resolution that was passed and the press release we have sent out.

We are hoping to schedule Posters on the Hill on April 12th or 13th and are waiting for confirmation of space from our contact in Congress. Because of Congressional transition, it is taking a little longer than it normally does. Regardless of when we are able to schedule Posters on the Hill, we would like to have many events across the country to celebrate the week. Some members have asked their mayor and their state legislature to declare a particular day or week as Undergraduate Day. It would be exciting if we had college towns all across the country celebrating undergraduate research by recognizing the week, having students speak at local service organizations, and local newspapers do feature articles on undergraduate research at your institution. It would also be very exciting if we had 50 governors declare April 11th as undergraduate research week. Would you work with your president, vice president for academic affairs and public relations office to see how your campus might celebrate this special week?

We are also very pleased to note that we had nearly 700 abstracts submitted for Posters on the Hill this year. This is a record number and about a 75% increase over last year. Undergraduate research is becoming a major learning strategy on campuses across the United States and CUR is truly becoming the national voice and resource for undergraduate research.

So see some of the videos from the event, please visit the following links:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599158917  – Rep. Mazie Hirono
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599158921  – Rep. Glenn Thompson
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599158925  – Rep. Rush Holt

10/12/10

First UM-Flint Student Presents at SACNAS

waites1.jpg

From the desk of Mel Serow, University Relations

University of Michigan-Flint senior Cameron Waites recently returned from one of the largest scientific conferences for undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S. The 2010 SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) National Conference was held in Anaheim, California.

Waites is the first UM-Flint student to ever present a poster at the conference, and this year, was the only representative from any University of Michigan campus. His presentation was based on research he did while at the NIH (National Institutes of Health) this past summer.

“While a scholar in the National Institutes of Health Undergraduate Scholarship Program, I worked in the lab of Helene Rosenberg, M.D., PhD. My research project was titled Developing a qPCR assay for Influenza A/FM/1/47-MA: Cloning of the Mouse-Adapted Influenza M1 Gene,” said Waites. “During this project, I learned many molecular and microbiology techniques, and completed the basis for future work in the lab that will allow us to assess the amount of influenza virus in various tissues.”

For Waites, participating in the conference was critical in making the most of his undergraduate education, and remaining an active participant in research will assist him to reach his future goals of becoming a physician-scientist.

While having the opportunity to participate in various programs, including the recent conference, Waites has developed additional knowledge and skills in the area of cultural competency.

“As I reflect on my cultural competency interests at UM-Flint, and the internship experience as a Michigan in Washington Program participant in Washington D.C., I recognize the need for increased participation and representation of Persons of Color in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, and being able to gain further experience through personal relationships, networks, and conversations at SACNAS has further enriched my understanding of these issues.”

This isn’t the only time Cameron has represented UM-Flint as a first. In 2009, he was also the first UM-Flint to present at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). Way to go, Cameron!

08/30/10

Council on Undergraduate Research Call for Submissions for Summer 2011 issue

This edition’s theme: “Undergraduate Research and the Tenure and Promotion Process”

The theme of the Summer 2011 CUR Quarterly will focus on ‘Undergraduate Research and the Tenure and Promotion Process”. We seek 4 or 5 authors who can write articles helpful to CUR members that provide insight on how the tenure and promotion process acknowledges and supports faculty involvement with undergraduate research.

We encourage articles that articulate how undergraduate research is, or can be, valued and recognized as an integral part of the tenure and promotion process.

Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to

  • Structuring T&P guidelines to explicitly address how UR contributes to faculty assessments;
  • How incorporating UR into T&P expectations affects faculty workload;
  • Institutional support necessary to enable faculty members to meet revised T&P guidelines;
  • Approaches to dealing with changing T&P guidelines for new hires vs. established faculty.
  • How university-wide T&P guidelines address faculty mentoring of undergraduate research across disciplines and colleges.

If you are interested in submitting an article, please prepare one or two paragraphs describing the focus of your proposed article. These paragraphs should be submitted using our online submission form by September 15, 2010. Decisions on invitations for full papers will be made by October 1, 2010.

Final articles will be about 2500 to 3000 words in length. The final text for review and editing must be submitted by November 15, 2010.

Deadlines
September 15, 2010: One or two paragraph description of article submitted online at http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/submissions/substart.asp?action=welcome&cid=73

November 15, 2010: Deadline for final text for review and editing. Directions on how to submit final papers will be sent to authors of the selected articles at a later date.