Undergraduate Research Scholars
The Undergraduate Research Scholars program is designed to give students an immersive and engaged research experience and enhance their applications to transfer colleges. Research experiences are thought to be pivotal in the education and professional development of undergraduate science students. Such experiences provide positive learning environments that could be included in transfer applications to four-year colleges and universities, graduate school applications in the future, and in many cases help propel those students into research-based careers based in part on the contacts that were made during those research experiences. Undergraduate Research Experiences (UREs) as a pedagogical tool have expanded since being recommended to reverse the national decline in STEM-based degrees. Before 2010, few students experienced and learned from research, but since then evidence has shown UREs lead to:
- higher rates of retention and completion
- more positive self-efficacy and perceived abilities as scientists
- more optimistic plans for their futures
- increased persistence if they are members of under-represented groups.
With all this is mind, the Undergraduate Research Scholars program aligns with the college’s stated mission of providing innovative and equitable learning experiences to empower individuals, transform lives, and prepare students for enhanced career and educational opportunities within a changing global community.
Criteria for Undergraduate Research Scholars Distinction
Students who complete each of the following will be eligible to receive the Undergraduate Research Scholar Distinction Honor, which will be documented on their transcript.
1. Faculty Supervisor:
A full-time Davidson-Davie faculty member must agree to oversee any research project. Students must meet criteria set forth by supervising faculty member agreeing to supervise project. Those criteria may be in addition to those that follow.
1. Faculty Supervisor:
A full-time Davidson-Davie faculty member must agree to oversee any research project. Students must meet criteria set forth by supervising faculty member agreeing to supervise project. Those criteria may be in addition to those that follow.
3: Research Experience Presentation/Communication.
Students must complete one of the two options below:
OPTION 1: Students will present the results of research projects. This requirement can be fulfilled by the presentation of results at professional scientific society meetings or symposia.
OPTION 2: Students will submit the results of the research project to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
Get Started
Students should contact faculty members directly to inquire about possible research projects.
Joe Felts
joe_felts@davidsondavie.edu
Personal Webpage
Areas of Interest: Animal Behavior, Endophytic Fungi, Antibiotic Resistance, Ecology, DNA Barcoding, Callosobruchus maculatus (Bean Beetles).