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1. Access to Funding for Collaborative Research across Institutions and Communities

   Dony, CC (March 2025, American Association of Geographers)

   There are newer efforts from funding organizations and agencies incentivizing collaborative research. I refer to collaborative research as research that requires the engagement from more than one institution, community, and/or economic sector, for example: participatory research, reciprocal research, convergence science, research-practice partnerships, university-industry partnerships, cross-disciplinary research and more. Compared to more traditional research, the formation of collaborative research ideas, roles of collaborators, and budgets alone take longer to develop before they are ready to present to funders. And if funded, research outcomes are harder to control and predict and the level of communication required across collaborators is higher in terms of keeping the vision forward (e.g., goals, roles, timeline) and in terms of effective research administration (e.g., budgeting, ethical reviews, documentation, compliance).Then, to broaden perspectives and participation in research, newer efforts also encourage non-traditional researchers to engage or lead collaborative research. I refer to a non-traditional researcher as someone who earned a PhD but for whom research is not a part of their current role, and who is at an institution that does not have research enterprise infrastructure to support them in accessing research funding easily or at all (e.g., a grants office). In this paper, I discuss a case study of collaborative research I lead for eight years, involving K-12 teachers, community college faculty, university researchers, and non-academic organizations in terms of the planning and coordination required compared to traditional research. I will also provide suggestions to lower barriers to access funding for and deliver on this type of research. 

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2. Developing research identity: Experiences and influences leading to undergraduate students’ growth as researchers

   Splendido, S; O’Connor, J; Thole, K_A; Berdanier, C_G_P (June 2024, 2024 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition)

   The purpose of this research full paper is to examine the development of undergraduate students’ research identity during a summer undergraduate research experience. Identity development through socialization experiences is crucial for students to explore future career paths, especially in careers that require research-focused graduate degrees. However, literature is limited on how effective socialization occurs for research and future research-related careers. This paper follows 10 undergraduate engineering and physics students participating in an engineering-focused Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at an R1 institution to explore this gap in knowledge. As part of a longitudinal multi-method study, participants completed a pre- and post-experience survey, and participated in three interviews over the course of the summer. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Interviews were analyzed through the lens of academic self-concept theory for common themes of socialization and identity development in research through the course of the program. Findings indicate that undergraduate students’ research self-concepts are heavily influenced by research experiences and comparisons to their peers. The students’ increase in research self-concept as well as their experiences and interactions within the program allowed them to see research careers as attainable and increased their interest in pursuing graduate degrees after the program. Survey data showed a statistical increase in research self-efficacy and research identity at the end of the program, reinforcing the idea that students’ experiences in the REU helped them grow as researchers and engineers. This research increases our understanding of students’ research identity development and provides potential ways to implement research self-concept and identity development to similar undergraduate research experiences. 

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3. In-Class Workshops to Teach Introductory Biology Students about Undergraduate Research

   https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2024.1  

   Pennino, Eric; McDonald, Kelly (January 2024, CourseSource)

   Decades of evidence support the premise that undergraduate research experiences are valuable endeavors for science students; however, a lack of knowledge about research and how to get involved can preclude equitable participation. We developed two in-class workshops to teach introductory biology students about undergraduate research experiences. In the first workshop, students are introduced to various types of undergraduate research, including faculty-mentored research, Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), summer research experiences and research-related jobs and internships. Students hear first-hand accounts about research from undergraduates actively performing research and learn about the benefits and challenges associated with participating. In the second workshop, students learn how to effectively identify and secure research opportunities and engage in an exercise that teaches them how to write a professional email to potential research advisors. Students also work together to develop strategies for building resilience if faced with rejection from a faculty member or internship/job opportunity. The workshops utilize student speakers, think-pair-share activities, and class discussions to engage and inform students. By the end of the workshops, all students are familiar with undergraduate research and have the knowledge and skills needed to identify and secure a research opportunity. The workshops were designed for introductory biology students but can be adapted for students in related majors or at different stages of the academic journey. 

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4. Answering big questions with big data: Using analytics across the research ecosystem

   https://doi.org/10.13023/9FZ6-7J52  

   Beynon, Ann (April 2024, University of Kentucky Libraries)

   The research landscape continues to shift and evolve. With challenges around research integrity and security growing, research leaders must rely on the highest quality data to make confident decisions. Universities and funders need to understand the societal impact of research investments in addition to the scholarly impact. Has research helped to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals? What are the emerging research areas that will lead to commercial innovations and sustainability advancements? We will discuss how quantitative data from Web of Science and InCites can help research stakeholders understand these big questions and inform their strategic research decisions. Presented at the 2024 Research Analytics Summit in Albuquerque, NM 

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5. Introducing Agility into Research Teams

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE56618.2022.9962665  

   Ochoa, Omar; Reynolds, Sarah A. (October 2022, 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   In this paper, we propose an innovative practice based on agile software development methods. This research approach introduces agility into learning of research in an academic environment, resulting in an Agile Research Team. Such a research team follows an agile approach, based on modifications to the Scrum approach, to collaboratively learn about research, and to manage research projects and the researchers involved. Success in research requires self-motivation, collaboration, and knowledge exchange. Traditional research occurs in top-down research groups that are led by a leading researcher, who oversees postdoctoral researchers and Ph.D. students, who in turn manage graduate and undergraduate level students. It is up to individual researchers to stay motivated, to acquire the necessary skills to conduct research, and, oftentimes, to decide what the following steps are. Much like effective research groups, agile software development approaches rely on individuals to form self-organizing and motivated teams to deliver technical excellence. Agile software development teams also require an environment of sharing knowledge between senior and junior developers. Agile approaches can facilitate the efficient exchange of knowledge due to a strong dependency on face-to-face communication and teamwork. With the emerging adoption of agile methods for software development in industry and its ability to expedite projects’ delivery, we argue that such approaches can potentially provide similar benefits for researchers and students in academia. The advantages that agile methods provide are twofold: the ability to respond faster to change, and a shorter feedback loop, which facilitates the learning of how to conduct research. This paper explores the impactful benefits of using an agile approach to manage research team projects to keep researchers motivated, enhance the learning of knowledge and research skills, increase scalability, and foster inclusivity. This paper will also present the roles, responsibilities, and processes defined for managing an Agile Research Team to support adoption of the approach with other research teams. In addition, results and lessons learned are presented following our experience with using the approach as described in this work. 

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