- Two Florida State University graduate students, Brittany Kraft and Emily Williams, observe two aggressively fighting male mosquitofish in a tank to study how genetics may determine aggression. - Undergraduate research is thriving at FSU across many disciplines, with over 3,000 undergraduates involved annually in research projects, theses, and creative works. - The inaugural issue of The Owl, FSU's first undergraduate research journal, was published in 2011 to highlight this research through papers on topics from artificial intelligence to religion.

1. Two mosquitofish — one mottled black, the other moonlight silver — go at it in their tank like a couple of brawling
cowboys. If this were a saloon, thefeuding fish would have been thrown out long ago. But beneath the fluorescent glare
n a small laboratory within Florida State University’sDepartment of Biological Science , their aggressive posturing is of
profound interest because of the potential researchimplications.(http://bio.fsu.edu/)
Florida State graduate student Brittany Kraft and her research assistant, Emily Williams, an FSU senior majoring in
biology, watch intently as the pairspar in a tight circle while also attacking their reflections in a swatch of cardboard
mirror taped to the side of the tank. When it’s clear that thenastiness isn’t going to stop anytime soon, Williams grabs a
net and scoops one of the fish into another tank, effectively ending the fight.
"This species is known to be very aggressive," said Kraft, who first became passionate about research as a high school
student and later as anundergraduate when she learned about research opportunities in the laboratory of Professor P.
Bryant Chase, chairman of FSU’s biology department."The black mottled males are much more aggressive than the
silver. So if color pattern is genetically determined, we also might assume aggression isgenetically determined."
Chase, along with a cadre of current and former students, recently published a research paper with surprising new
results in the peer-reviewedjournal DNA and Cell Biology. Five authors were undergraduates and two were high school
students in FSU’s Young Scholars Program when they worked on the research project. (The paper, titled "Interaction
Between Troponin and Myosin EnhancesContractile Activity of Myosin in Cardiac Muscle," is available online ; the
printversion will be published this fall in an issue of the journal that focuses on undergraduate
research).(http://www.bio.fsu.edu/ysp/) (http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/dna.2010.1163)
Sharing a byline with the chairman of the biology department has proved an auspicious start for these undergraduates,
who get to see their namessplashed in an academic journal — a thrill usually experienced at the graduate level.
Such kudos, however, are not uncommon at Florida State.

2. • "When you think about undergraduate research, it’s an investment not just in that
project but in the future of science," he said. "You never knowwhere these students will
go and what interesting career paths they will follow."
• Undergraduate research is flourishing not only in FSU’s biology labs but in myriad
disciplines campuswide: The 2011 spring semester marked amilestone for
undergraduate research with the inaugural publication of
• The Owl (http://our.fsu.edu/profiles/6114_The_Owl_Book_Final.pdf)
•
• —the university’s first-ever journal devoted solely to showcasing an eclectic mix of
undergraduate research and creative endeavors, from poetry toreligion to science.
• In his own department, Chase has documented a spike in undergraduate research in
recent years, a finding he has quantified and written about in apaper he hopes to
publish soon.
• "There has been a tenfold increase in the last decade," said Chase, whose gentle
manner and encouraging spirit has inspired many FSU biologymajors to pursue their
own research.
• He attributes this youthful research bubble to burgeoning student interest, as well as
"the growing realization that there are many opportunitiesavailable." Chase also credits
a new generation of research-driven faculty, as well as more federal and state funding
for science, engineering andbiomedical research at the university level.

3. • The Owl
• is named for the bird pictured in the off icial seal of West Florida Theological Seminary, the earliest predecessor of Florida State, whichexisted from 1851
to 1901. The new journal highlights undergraduate research on such weighty topics as "Applications of Artificial Neural Networks inMushroom Edibility
Classification," "Religion and Modernity: The Fire Sermon," and "Yemen: Al-Qaeda’s Next Fortress."
• The magazine, although jaw-dropping in breadth and scope, was churned out on a meager, student-size budget. Its first run of 2,000 issues wasproduced
for $6,500. The idea was to shed light on what the magazine’s founders call a powerful conversation among emerging scholars at theundergraduate
level.
• "I think education is meant to be interactive — and research gives a student the opportunity to synthesize what they’re learning from their
professors,"said
• Owl
• associate editor William Boyce, an earnest and articulate FSU senior and honors student majoring in history, creative writing and religion."The natural
outgrowth of that is to start to engage and begin the process of researching something yourself, although at the undergraduate level,research
sometimes seems scary, especially to humanities students (who often must initiate original research)."
• Kristal Moore Clemons, the associate director of Florida State’s
• Off ice of Undergraduate Research (https://cre.fsu.edu/)
• , puts the number of FSUundergraduates involved in research at about 3,000 annually, including students who take on an honors-in-the-major thesis,
which has long requiredoriginal student research. Clemons was first charged with bringing the research journal to fruition in 2009, when she was hired
at Florida State.
• "The Student Council for Undergraduate Research and Creativity and I approached the Student Government Association and said, ‘I know we’re thebest
in ACC athletics, but let’s be the best in ACC academics.’"
• Clemons praises
• The Owl
• ‘s "super-motivated" team of students, who served as advisers and also comprised the publication’s core editorial staff ,lending their talents to the
design and editing. One of the founding staff members is undergraduate Vincent LaBarbera, who also made centralcontributions to the
• DNA and Cell Biology
• paper. (In less than two weeks, Clemons says, they learned the ins and outs of everything from publishingsoftware to financial compliance).
• Clemons hopes to have an annual call for undergraduate papers and enough motivated students to publish

4. • The Owl is named for the bird pictured in the official seal of West Florida Theological Seminary, the earliest predecessor of Florida State, whichexisted
from 1851 to 1901. The new journal highlights undergraduate research on such weighty topics as "Applications of Artificial Neural Networks
inMushroom Edibility Classification," "Religion and Modernity: The Fire Sermon," and "Yemen: Al-Qaeda’s Next Fortress.".
• "Even if a student never has a career in research, doing research as an undergraduate will impress an employer," Clemons said. "It will show that
astudent has learned communication and writing skills, time management skills, and that they can stick with a project from start to finish."
• Clemons says her off ice encourages students in all disciplines — not just the sciences — to be involved in research, and has provided funding
foreverything from musical compositions to performances to literary endeavors.
• "I tell students all the time: Do it, do it, do it — because they have to start thinking early in their careers about all the research opportunities
available,and what will open doors," she said. "Even if they don’t get that starring role on Broadway, for example, they might end up writing, directing
orstudying plays."
• FSU senior Abby Kinch, 29, who is married and the mother of two young children, had already served as a linguist in the U.S. Air Force when sheenrolled
at Florida State to earn her bachelor’s degree. Her interest in foreign languages spawned a research study exploring — among other things— whether
English grammar proficiency among native English speakers predicts aptitude in learning certain languages. Her research, Kinch hopes,will open the
doors to a doctorate in developmental psychology, specifically the study of language acquisition, particularly among children.
• Her take on the value of undergraduate research?
• "It gives you an edge up in getting into graduate school, which is getting ridiculously competitive because of the economy," Kinch said. "More andmore
people are applying to graduate programs, so it’s a good bonus to have already written a thesis or designed a research question."
• FSU senior Karlanna Lewis, a creative writing and Russian major with honors, has been researching the parallels between dance and literature in
theSoviet and post-Soviet ages. Like her fellow undergraduate researchers, she presented her findings at various conferences and at one of
twoUndergraduate Research Symposiums held yearly by the FSU Off ice of Undergraduate Research.
• Lewis’ passion for Russian literature and dance took her on a journey that led to Moscow State University and to the apartment/museum of
famedRussian ballerina Galina Ulanova. Back in Tallahassee, Lewis made good use of FSU’s Strozier Library, where she spent days engrossed in
researchand checked out "bags full of books."
• Lewis calls the resulting 45-page research paper written for an honors-directed independent study course in Russian "an actively driven"
academicperiod that led her toward tangible scholarly results.
• "By doing research as an undergraduate, it helps create less of a divide between being in class and being in the real world," she said.
• Getting involved isn’t hard for most FSU undergraduates. From the time freshmen enter the requisite "Biology 101," research opportunities are hard
tomiss because "they’re posted everywhere," recalls graduate student Kraft, "on fliers and department websites."