A few posts ago I forwarded the argument that successful research universities of the future must integrate research skills into the experience of all undergraduates (see “Research, Learning, Learning Through Research”). The reason is that we need to prepare our students for multiple careers over their life course, some in fields that don’t even exist now. They need to know how to collect a set of new observations completely foreign to their own knowledge, study past ways of thinking about the new field, separate the noise from the truth, synthesize the diverse facts, and extract conclusions. In almost all disciplines, these steps are the matters of scholarship and research.
Because of a wonderful experience last Saturday, I’m now convinced Georgetown is ready for next steps of expanding research experiences for students. I took part in the first of two different campus-wide research symposia organized by students themselves. The Saturday one was the “Undergraduate Research Symposium.” On April 10, another will be held, the “Undergraduate Research Conference” (http://nhs.georgetown.edu/humanscience/studentgroups/urc).
The Saturday conference was gloriously multi-disciplinary. There were posters on biochemistry next to posters on medieval studies. There were presentations on disparities in knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases and one on currency manipulation in China.
Faculty acted as moderators of the panels of student presenters. All four classes from 2013-2016 were represented. Sometimes the faculty mentors were in the audience for support. There were over 80 works presented.
The presentations took the format common to academic conferences, with student researchers presenting their work. Students described the issues they were investigating, the method of their approaching the issues, the findings of their work, as well as the limitations of their studies. I’ve heard thousands of scholarly presentations in my life; some of these were as polished as many I’ve heard from PhD’s. I was especially impressed with the poise and confidence the students displayed in answering questions from the floor.
At lunch the keynote speaker was the Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation, who noted that scholarship and original investigations are not limited to the social and natural sciences, but were common to all “explorers” in understanding. What unites their work is a systematic investigation, objective in its goals, built upon the work of prior scholars, devoted to pushing the edges of understanding and insight.
That talk was followed by a poignant appreciation of faculty mentors delivered by one of the students. It was a note of love — an acknowledgement that the students appreciate the extra time given by mentors in spite of their packed careers of teaching and research, that the faculty were their role models about what cutting-edge scholarship means. It ended by pledging that the students owe the faculty that they provide the same research mentoring to others when they have the opportunity.
The two research conferences this year are organized by students. They’re telling us they aspire to learning how to do research. We need to nourish these feelings among all students.