BC promotes student research endeavors

There is no such thing as merely 'undergraduate' research.

"Research is research," said Amir Hoveyda, professor in the chemistry department, in an e-mail. "When an undergraduate scholar joins one of the research groups in the chemistry department at Boston College, they are treated as a respected member of that group."

In an effort to become one of the top liberal arts schools, BC unveiled its strategic plan in 2005 - which provided the foundation for the master plan - placing research among the forefront of the University's agenda and sparking an increased interest in research opportunities by both faculty and students.

"The statement aims at fostering a better liberal arts education and setting an example for other universities. A number of things are in place for that: Advanced Study Grants and Undergraduate Faculty Research Fellowships," said Donald Hafner, vice provost for Undergraduate Affairs and political science professor.

Advanced Study Grants are given to students by the University Fellowships Committee for students' original research projects. These grants are used solely for the student's personal project and are independent of faculty research. Roughly one out of every four students obtains funding every year for their summer research project, with grants ranging from $500 to $2,000. Although freshmen and sophomores are primarily encouraged to apply for these grants, juniors may also apply and conduct their research the summer before senior year.

Students who received advanced study grants last summer are expected to give presentations on their research the first week of February at the second annual undergraduate research symposium.

"The Advanced Study Grant is one of the best resources available to students, especially to freshmen and sophomores," said Scott Jelinek, A&S '10 and 2007 recipient.

Working with fellow BC student Chelsea Jacobs, A&S '11, Jelenik conducted field-based research that analyzed the socio-economic impact of a higher standard of living on the transformation of women. Jelinek worked as a research consultant for a global micro-finance organization, Opportunity International, and designed a program to encourage HIV/AIDS testing for the Africa Regional Director of Opportunity International.

"The Advanced Study Grant allowed me to use my research to design a health care program that will potentially impact thousands of clients in East Africa," Jelinek said. "I was able to use it to help integrate my previous international experiences and my developing interests in medicine, international health care and microfinance."

Another opportunity for research, Undergraduate Faculty Research Fellowships (UFRF), allows students to participate in faculty projects.

Faculty members apply for these grants through the dean's office of their respective school, and applications are available for the fall and spring semesters and the summer session. These grants are meant to support faculty research by giving funds to faculty to hire undergraduates as research assistants, and students are often included as co-authors on professors' work.

Associate Dean William Petri oversees this process for A&S. "As long as there is money to fund it, and the department in question supports it, it's funded," Petri said. Typically about 80 to 90 percent of requests are funded.

Examples of UFRF proposals from the history, political science, and geology and geophysics departments include: examining race relations in the first half of the 20th century and demonstrating how this profoundly shaped the rise of sociology as an academic discipline; identifying and examining the primary incentives and disincentives for Saudi Arabia to increase its steady level of oil exports in the future; and the characterization of pathways of salt and its fate at points of discharge into the surface water system.

Emily Neumeier, A&S '08, is a past recipient of both an UFRF and two advanced study grants. Neumeier, an art history major, went on an excavation in Spain the summer after her freshman year and worked at the British Museum the summer after her sophomore year. "Everybody does research to some extent," Neumeier said. "It's not like you have a choice in college. I personally count research for a paper as research."

Neumeier has also been published in BC's student research journal, Elements. Neumeier said that research grants are also useful in that they help prepare one for the future. "Going through the application process as a freshman or sophomore gives you practice for graduate school."

Students have the opportunity to pursue research funding even after graduation: Fulbright scholars win an all-expenses-paid year of study and research abroad funded by the government. The German Studies department at BC sends the most Fulbright scholars to Germany out of all American colleges and universities.

"The connection between research and winning a Fulbright is an obvious one," said Michael Resler, a professor in the German studies department. "I try to get my students early as they come in as freshmen to sit down and talk about the Fulbright. The secret is to start early."

Although research is not necessarily a requirement for a Fulbright, Resler noted that almost everyone who gets a Fulbright in the German studies department has written an honors thesis.

The value of research, then, is experience as a continuation of classroom work. "Science education without research experience of some kind is an education that is incomplete and stunted," Hoveyda said. "The excitement [of research] places the student in the moment, when a lost quintet by Mozart, a lost letter by Proust, or an artifact used in ancient Egypt, Greece, or Persia is discovered by a music historian, a literary scholar or an anthropologist."

Kevin Bedell, physics professor and Vice Provost for Research, said he views research as a way of keeping students engaged and connecting departments through research opportunities. "An area like neuroscience brings together people from different departments; you need math modeling to understand the chemistry and biology of it.