Presented a subset of research on Undergraduate Research Experiences pertaining to the School of Physics & Astronomy at RIT's annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. See my LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickfurrey.

1. Why do UREs matter?
Format of the Survey
Results: Physics Undergraduates and UREs
• Clipboard from The Wallace Center at RIT was used to gather data (limited to RIT users, only
could respond once)
• Identifying information was gathered for the purposes of tracking who had participated and
awarding gift certificates to random winners. COS majors who did not participate were
repeatedly emailed.
• Students were asked about classroom experiential learning, desire to do research, and details of
their UREs at RIT and elsewhere (e.g. at what point did they start, how much time did they
spend, value of the experience)
Undergraduate Research Experiences in the School of Physics and Astronomy
Patrick Furrey1, Dina L. Newman2, Mark Gillespie3, Benjamin M. Zwickl1
(1) School of Physics and Astronomy, RIT (2) Gosnell School of Life Sciences, RIT (3) College of Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
What is an Undergraduate Research Experience (URE)?
• We define research as the systematic investigation of an unsolved scientific problem.
Methods or procedures that have already been established, replicate known results, and
are performed for educational purposes are not considered research.
• Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) can be paid, unpaid, independent, at an off-
campus location, or some other type of work and is typically done under a mentor.
• The American Physical Society, the national professional organization for physicists,
encourages all four-year colleges and universities to provide access to UREs for all
undergraduate physics and astronomy majors.
• Experiential learning is key to RIT’s Strategic Plan and UREs are a form of experiential
learning since they typically concern real situations a student might encounter in their
field.
• The Physics BS Program at RIT recognizes the value of UREs and requires a Capstone
Project, essentially a research project for seniors, as part of the degree requirement.
Why does the state of UREs in COS deserve investigation?
Eliciting Survey Responses
• There is no centralized hub for College of Science undergraduate research, so before
conducting this study, it was unknown how many of our students are already involved
UREs, how much students value them, and how often students are unsuccessful in
obtaining them
• Although a URE is required senior year in the Physics program, they might benefit from
earlier exposure to research
Ideally the survey would include all COS majors.
Advertising was posted on bulletin boards, promoted by
faculty in their classes, and students received direct
emails about the survey. Participant incentives included
a high chance of winning a $10 gift card.
“…haven't done a URE because it seemed like a distant concept
until recently.”
“There needs to be more in place to help non-seniors get
involved in research earlier on without the burden being entirely
on the student to find an opening or opportunity.”
“Talking to professors really helped my chances.”
Students were prompted to provide qualitative data through
Likert scale questions and open-ended feedback. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree Not Applicable
RIT Physics Student Responses to the statement: "I want to get
more involved in undergraduate research." by year (N=74)
2014 2015 2016
Additional Feedback from Students
Conclusions
• The vast majority of Physics students are eager to do research
• All physics students do get UREs by the time they graduate due to the capstone
requirement, but many start doing research much earlier-- in their first or second year
• Future work will investigate how to provide more opportunities and encouragement to
younger students
• The survey should be repeated annually to keep track of this data for all of COS
Physics students of all years strongly agree they want to be more involved in research.
16
11
10
14
24
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 1 2 3+ Not
Answered†
RIT Physics Students Total Number of
Semesters/Quarters/Summers spent doing
research (N=75)
† Most participants who did not respond to this question were freshmen.
Over 40% of students surveyed reported at least one academic term
of undergraduate research experience.
10
14
24
23
3
1
RIT Physics Student Survey Responders by
Year (N=75)
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Not Answered
38
25
37
28
RIT Physics Students Total by Year
Status
Senior Junior Sophomore Freshman
Freshmen and sophomores were somewhat underrepresented in the dataset.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
I have not done one 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RIT Physics Students responding to "What year of college (or following summer)
did you do your first research experience?" by year
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Not Answered
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree Not Applicable
RIT Physics Student Responses to the statement:
"I have tried to get an undergraduate research experience at RIT."
"I've been unsuccessful in obtaining an undergraduate research experience at RIT."