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Amanda Schermer and Michael Kinyon study fractals.
By Joyce Ritchie
The opportunity for Amanda Schermer to work on fractal research with Professor Michael Kinyon (above) was made possible by IUSB's SMART (Student/Mentor Academic Research Teams) program. The SMART program provides small grants for scholarly activity, basic research, service-learning research and creativity. Funds are awarded to cover time, expenses and travel to conferences.
According to Gwynn Mettetal, assistant professor of education and chair of the Undergraduate Research Committee, of which SMART is one project, the program began several years ago as a small summer fellowship program and has grown to fund proposals in virtually every school and division at IUSB.
"SMART works just like a real-life research grants program," says Mettetal. "It funds projects in increments of thirds across the life of the project, just like in the real world."
It's a learning process in which the payoff is in small part monetary but in larger part professional development.
"Students benefit from the experience of working closely with a faculty member throughout the whole project," says Mettetal. "Faculty mentor students to help them design and produce a fundable project. In the process, faculty help develop the rationale and budget for the proposal, and then help with preparation of the final report," she continues. "The student must include a reference letter from the faculty mentor, complete a self-report, and learn the process of submitting receipts for expense reimbursement, just like in the real grants world."
Attending a professional conference is another important aspect of many projects, Mettetal points out.
"Again, faculty work closely with students helping them prepare to attend a conference, helping them learn how to present at a conference and how to benefit from the conference as a socialization into the academic culture of what professors do when they are not teaching class," says Mettetal.
"The experience is invaluable in graduate school applications," adds Mettetal. "The student who has had quality research experience is much more valuable to a graduate school."
That's true, agrees Gretchen Anderson, assistant professor of chemistry, but she is quick to add that undergraduate research is just as valuable for the student whose professional sights are on the work world.
"Research is a lot different than lecture courses," says Anderson. "In research, you have to go find the information wherever it is. Only the basics are found in textbooks. To learn something new and to go in new directions, research is the only way to do it."
In the current climate of accountability, where skills and results are paramount and the time and money spent on research are often suspect, Anderson points out that in doing research, students are developing the kinds of skills needed to get employment or to go on to advanced degrees.
"In research, we are not simply pursuing idle curiosities," she says. "In research we are asking new questions, the answers to which are important to large populations. For example, in one project we are looking at biochemical ways of detoxifying arsenic in the environment, a problem in rural areas where arsenic is found in groundwater as residue from past pesticide use."
Lab work, or "at the bench work" as Anderson calls it, is real experience that requires thinking, writing, communicating with others, planning, reviewing and evaluating results.
Students experience working within standards of scientific rigor. The research is on a par with that at the best institutions in the United States. One goal is to publish papers in premier scientific journals.
"Students in the research lab are learning new skills, sharing information and passing on techniques among teams working on different parts of a project," says Anderson.
"They have to do calculations, pull on a body of knowledge--they don't even know what chapter they're in!--just the way it is in real life."