1) How long have you been coordinating the Georgetown Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (GUROP)?
I’ve been directing GUROP since it’s beginning in 1997. It was initially a faculty grant process... arising from a faculty grant process called the Teaching Research Nexus Grant. For some reason, faculty were not jumping at the grant opportunity resulting in the idea that the university will support the faculty through undergraduate research assistants.
2) What is the purpose of GUROP, and how does it fit with the University’s vision, mission, and goals?
We are a student-centered research university, and the creation of knowledge is definitely one of our missions. We have a lot of really smart students and ambitious faculty, so putting the two together is really logical. GUROP remains a faculty support program, but students benefit greatly as an undergraduate research assistant. No matter what field students wish to pursue after college, there is always some kind of research involved. Some students kind of just check it off their resume list, but a lot of students end up getting hooked. I remember a student in the early years who wanted to be a senator. He was looking for internships on the Hill, but then he started research with one of the faculty in psychology. He ended up going to Harvard for Grad School in Psychology! He just needed the opportunity, and that’s why there’s not a long of strings attached to GUROP. It’s famously flexible. We just want students to try it. We know that research is going on all over campus, but GUROP is the only way for students to be formally recognized (transcript notation) for participating in research.
3) Are you involved with any other undergraduate research initiatives?
I am involved in the Undergraduate Research Symposium sponsored by GUSA and occurring in March. I really want [Georgetown] to somehow have, if not a real, physical space, an “umbrella” for undergraduate research. In doing so, more opportunities will be available for students to present their work and get involved. Independent research is also available through the Lisa J. Raines Fellowship. The ideas are solely the students, and it is mentored to a certain degree. Students, most of the time, travel internationally. Lastly, students participating in GUROP generally continue their research with a senior thesis. Students who have done research certainly have an advantage as they have that academic capability of taking a question and running with it.
4) What kind of opportunities are available to students who are interested in undergraduate research?
There are a lot of nursing and health studies opportunities. The MSB provides summer research grants, but there are not many opportunities during the year. In fact, some of the best Summer GUROP Grants have been in the business field. We don’t have many opportunities in the humanities, but the faculty who do participate usually have one assistant. There are very few faculty in the performing arts who have research assistants, but I would like to think it is possible for students to be doing research in anything. As long as we have faculty to guide students, I think that students should go for it. Moreover, anything that’s available in Washington, D.C. students are encouraged to take advantage. In past years, students have been involved in international development projects and research in foreign countries.
5) What role do you think research plays in a student’s academic life?
For starters, students learn to tackle questions by pulling it apart and taking those necessary steps to make it happen. It’s really making sure that the students have all the pieces to set up future research and grant proposals. Second, there are a variety of skills that students gain from research. People learn a ton doing research that isn’t even directly related to the topic. Research should be a curriculum requirement for Georgetown students, but it would have to vary a lot for it to work. It would be costly, but I think students will really benefit from it.
6) What is the most frequently asked question students come to you regarding undergraduate research?
They want to know how to find someone to work with. We have been trying for a while of figuring out a way of collecting the faculty research projects and creating a database. Students can find what a faculty member’s particular interests are, but it’d be nice to have a better starting point so students would not have to go “door-to-door”.
7) For the first-year students who know little about undergraduate research, how should they get started?
Students should figure out what classes they enjoy. A lot of first year students do come to Georgetown knowing what they want to do, but the majority do not. I believe that the best time to start research is the spring of a student’s sophomore year. That is really the time to give it a try. First year students should just start finding subjects that really catch their interests. Once they’re beyond the introductory courses, students can usually find something they're really interested in.
Interview conducted by Jeffrey Lin, SFS 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment