Creating Effective Undergraduate Research Programs in Science

This is the first comprehensive, data-based study of the benefits to students who actively participate in authentic science research programs. The book features contributors from a variety of institutions who bring together studies of undergraduate research programs. They focus on identifying the successful elements of each program, and then draw valuable conclusions about the effects those programs have on the students. Providing much-needed information about the organization and administration of programs and the challenges to create and sustain viable research opportunities, this essential resource:

• Features a variety of perspectives, including those of external evaluators, longtime program directors, participants, and administrators.
• Identifies the characteristics of effective programs and the kinds of gains that faculty and administrators can expect from them.
• Examines the barriers to research opportunities, including lack of departmental and institutional resources and inadequate faculty compensation.
• Can be used as a primer for creating programs and for determining their effectiveness.

Roman Taraban is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Psychology at Texas Tech University, and Assessment Coordinator for the Texas Tech Howard Hughes Medical Institute Biological Sciences Education Program. Richard L. Blanton is Professor of Plant Biology and Director of the University Honors Program at North Carolina State University.

"As someone who only decided to become a scientist because of an accidental encounter with undergraduate research, I can heartily recommend this book to all college science faculty. To help science thrive, we need to provide as many young people as possible with the opportunity to experience our wonderful discipline."
—Bruce Alberts, University of California, San Francisco, Editor-in-Chief of Science