Undergraduate research benefits students and professors

Download photo

Brian Kahovec filters the particles from a water sample that his CLU research team took from the Ventura River as Jennifer Arceo watches the filtration.

Photo: Juan Carlo/ Star Staff

Colleges nationwide are giving undergraduates more opportunities to delve into research, once the nearly exclusive realm of graduate students and professors.

In Ventura County, undergraduates are studying environmental pollutants in water, the politics of autism and the food-buying habits of Latino families, among other topics.

"Undergraduate research is one of the most effective ways of teaching possible," said Michele LeBlanc, chairwoman of the exercise science department at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. "In the past five years, we've seen it progressing more and more and more. It's not that nothing was happening before, but faculty are more interested in it now."

Undergraduate research has become so popular that CLU recently created an Office for Undergraduate Research, directed by LeBlanc, which will provide grants for equipment, conferences or travel.

CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo recently added a course, University 498, in which undergraduates assist professors with research projects.

"When students are working with faculty members, they're at the cutting edge, working on a more advanced level," said Ashish Vaidya, dean of faculty at CSUCI. "And it provides faculty the opportunity to get help."

Growing popularity

Nationwide, membership in the Council of Undergraduate Research has increased, reflecting the growing popularity of student research. Four years ago, the council had 385 members. Now it has nearly 600.

"It's hard to track how many students are involved, but that's a good indication of an increase in national interest," Executive Director Nancy Hensel said.

Undergraduates certainly are showing an interest, LeBlanc said. Prospective students often ask about research opportunities when they visit CLU, she said.

That's probably because many graduate and medical schools expect students to have some research experience when they apply, she said. "What used to be an unusual experience has become almost an expectation."

Professors say research engages students, who learn to state a problem, seek a solution, then defend that solution. In doing that, students gain confidence, maturity, patience and tenacity, they say.

"School trains you to work on problems where there's a guaranteed solution," said Kathryn Leonard, an assistant professor of mathematics at CSUCI. "It's kind of terrifying to attack a problem where it's all unknown. It's sort of like stepping off a cliff and hoping an elevator will rescue you. But life's like that. ... You learn far more from mistakes."

Research also can encourage students to stay in math and science, disciplines that educators say are critical if the United States wants to remain competitive globally, Hensel said.

"Many students in the sciences and engineering have published or developed products that have led to patents," Hensel said. "It helps support a culture of innovation."

Other disciplines included

Research often involves the sciences, but it also has grown to include other disciplines, such as the arts, religion and marketing. The Council on Undergraduate Research has a social sciences division and recently added a third division in the arts and humanities, Hensel said.

Many projects also are inter-disciplinary, involving students and faculties in several different fields working together. At CLU, for example, sophomore Jennifer Arceo is working on a project that incorporates math, chemistry and the social sciences.

The project is studying the level and origin of environmental pollutants in area water, then examining people's potential for exposure by income level along with their perceived risk of exposure.

"You realize how much you can learn on your own, just being nudged by your professor," said Arceo, 19, who is majoring in both environmental science and political science. "People do better if they find a greater purpose for what they're doing in their classes. It makes you work harder."

CSU Channel Islands also is offering undergraduates more opportunities to do research. Tiina Itkonen, a professor of education, is studying the politics of autism, specifically how autism advocates frame their issues. She's working with students majoring in liberal studies, political and computer science, and psychology.

"Research becomes so interesting when you get to do it first-hand, rather than just read about it," Itkonen said.

Produced educational film

Undergraduate research also is growing at Pepperdine University in Malibu, said Lee Kats, associate provost for research.

At Pepperdine, undergraduates researched what Latino families in Ventura County bought at grocery stores, then produced a 30-minute educational film based on the data. The goal was to address the onset of diabetes in adults, Kats said.

Students studying nutrition science, theater and communication/media were involved in the project, he said.

"The issues we face today, they're going to be resolved by people of different disciplines working together," Kats said. "If we can get that started as undergraduates, all the better."

--- Published in the Ventura County Star on Oct. 13, 2008