A Model for Advancing Institutional Effectiveness via Undergraduate Research

University research plays a pivotal role in helping society develop new knowledge, inform action and advance the public good, with university faculty being the primary drivers of research innovation within higher education institutions. While much of the public discourse around improving research outcomes within universities focuses on things like the need for better public communication of research and concerns about program funding and sustainability, an issue less discussed is the value of undergraduate research programs (UGRs) and lack of developed, scalable models for increasing undergraduate research participation.

Current practices used for developing UGRs rely heavily on individual faculty and student mentoring agreements, which, while valuable, are consistently limited due to faculty workloads, student experience or competition among undergraduate students (there are many more students than faculty!). These obstacles make traditional models of undergraduate research engagement unbalanced, difficult to scale and complicated by the variety of research training practices across disciplines.

A high-impact practice that increases student engagement, retention and success—as George Kuh, director of Indiana University at Bloomington’s Center for Postsecondary Research, has found in his work—undergraduate research has incredible potential to help students succeed while also elevating university status, yet standard undergraduate research program guidelines remain loosely defined. Building off years of experience forming our own undergraduate research program and guidance from organizations like the Council on Undergraduate Research, we offer structured options for developing UGR programs in any type of institution and how they can benefit students and higher education organizations alike.

Create a Peer Mentoring Program

Pairing undergraduates with faculty mentors is the ideal scenario for undergraduate research training, but increased faculty teaching and service requirements often limits their ability to mentor undergraduate students. Undergraduates are also naturally still learning the research methods of their field.

Universities can help jump-start undergraduate research training through developing mentoring relationships with upper-division students who have already worked with faculty on formal research projects. Not only does this create a pipeline for student research, but it can also help introduce students to a larger research community, creating a sense of belonging for incoming students.

The concept of near-peer mentoring has been shown to contribute to increased student retention and engagement. By using upper-division students as mentors, first-year students can learn about research in their field as early as their first semester, allowing undergraduates to become comfortable in research settings while also breaking down misconceptions about where research happens (e.g., not just the library and lab). The key to the success of these programs, however, is creating structure around student pairings and activities, not just matching students based on interests or majors.

Our office used the following approach to develop a first-year research peer mentoring program:

• Recruit mentors via upper-division undergraduate research programs.
• Match mentors and mentees based on discipline, when possible, but allow flexibility (e.g., if research methods are similar across fields, student discipline may not matter).
• Provide mentors training on effective mentoring practices. We developed a training program based on the mentoring model of cognitive apprenticeship.
• Create program structures and goals. We created a syllabus with weekly program topics and activities (e.g., reflections, identifying potential faculty mentors, etc.). Students should meet in person, when possible, to create a sense of community.

Encourage Group-Based Research

Research is rarely an individual endeavor. Rather, research relies on the intersection of multiple disciplines, often requiring interdisciplinary teams to work together to successfully complete projects. Many traditional models of research mentoring tend to promote an individualistic, isolated approach to research. For undergraduates, this can lead to unnecessary anxiety and potential negative experiences. Mentor absenteeism, interpersonal misalignment, lack of career and psychosocial support, or even abuse of power can be detrimental to a student’s overall interest in research, mental well-being and career trajectory.

Developing group-based research programs, specifically for undergraduates, provides students the opportunity to interact with a community of like-minded peers while also cultivating skills that will lead to further success in academic or professional careers. The facilitated group aspect of these programs combats potential negative outcomes by introducing students to interdisciplinary, group research early in their careers and acclimates students to working successfully with a team, a skill most future employers will value.

In 2023, our office launched a group-based undergraduate research program called the Martinson Applied Projects program. This program, supported by a donor and collaborators across campus, awards funding to faculty projects that encourage (or require) group-based research with undergraduate students. For those familiar, think of it as an internal NSF REU.

Our team developed a two-phase program structure in which students can earn credit throughout the academic year for completing project specific outcomes and preapproved student deliverables, like submitting a national scholarship application or journal publication. We provide faculty with general program structure expectations, removing some of the administrative burden for the faculty and funding for project development that allows operational flexibility.

For students, this program provides a supportive environment where they can learn about research from a subject-matter expert, work toward specific goals and have access to a community of peers that provides interpersonal support.

Promote Community Research Engagement

While most universities know the importance of community engagement, community-engaged research can be a powerful tool for change. This type of research, however, requires special consideration to ensure universities are engaging with their communities appropriately and effectively. The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research describes community research as “relational research where all participants change and grow in a synergistic relationship as they work together and strategize to solve issues and problems that are defined by and meaningful to the community.”

Universities often have significant impacts on their communities, for better or worse. By remembering to keep the nature of community research collaborative at its core, universities can ensure their community-based programs are well intentioned and meaningful for the communities with which they work.

At the University of Pittsburgh, we provide unique guidelines for students conducting community-based research and require students to work alongside a faculty mentor familiar with community-based research practices.

It is also important for undergraduate research program administrators to make sure they are following university guidelines for community engagement. Our Office of Engagement and Community Affairs provides resources for community-engaged scholarship and can provide important perspectives that those solely operating in the research world might not have.

Development of community-engaged research guidebooks, like at the University of Michigan, for example, also provides students and faculty guiding principles for their community research programs. Universities should consider the implementation of such a guidebook to reinforce and standardize the expectations of current and future community research programs.

Focus on Increased Student Representation and Participation

Our team knows misconceptions about what research looks like and where it is done are some of the main deterrents keeping undergraduate students from considering research experiences. Students in professional fields (e.g., business or nursing) and students in the arts are particularly likely to feel that research is “not for them.”

The reality, however, is that research isn’t bound by discipline—it belongs to the arts and the sciences and it’s conducted by artists and engineers. Nevertheless, many view research as a niche field conducted solely by academics. These misconceptions can be especially detrimental for first-generation students or students from historically underrepresented backgrounds who may benefit greatly from this high-impact practice.

Research also excels at teaching soft skills, such as project management, communication and interdisciplinary collaboration, while also helping students build professional networks and a sense of community within their schools.

To combat these misconceptions and increase student research engagement, we took the following approach:

• Create workshops and informational materials that help students understand what research looks like across disciplines and industries.
• Collaborate with institutional partners whose goals align with increasing student engagement and representation. At Pitt, the TRIO McNair, Bridges and Kessler Scholars programs seek to engage first-generation students and students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in research activities.
• Incorporate course-based undergraduate research experiences into major requirements across disciplines. The Council on Undergraduate Research provides excellent guidance for developing course-based activities.

Institutional Benefits of Undergraduate Research Development

By using the guidelines provided here, institutions can incorporate scalable undergraduate research programs that both benefit students and contribute to larger institutional goals.

• Increased research status. With the recent update to the Carnegie classification criteria for research institutions, investing in undergraduate research can help universities increase institutional status via increased spending on research initiatives and retention of undergraduate students who wish to pursue doctoral degrees or apply to prestigious national scholarships (e.g., NSF REUs, GRFPs, etc.).
• Student retention. As a high-impact educational practice, undergraduate research has been shown to improve educational outcomes for students across disciplines. Our programs specifically focus on developing research communities and activities that create a sense of belonging and achievement within and outside the classroom.
• Research communication. The more universities invest in undergraduate research, the more potential there is for conversation about research to reach the public. Students who participate, particularly in interdisciplinary programs, gain more experience discussing their work with others and comparing and understanding the significance of their work in a broader context. This can lead students to feel more confident in promoting their work to those outside of academia (e.g., families, friends, employers, etc.), thus making research accessible to all. Also, when research discussion reaches the public, it enables universities to better advocate for the importance and societal impact of their work.
• Increased inclusiveness and service. When universities work closely in tandem with their communities to help make positive changes that are important to the people, they position themselves as a positive, helpful force in their community rather than a potentially negative one. Increased representation and equal opportunities for students through targeted research programs also continue to deconstruct stereotypes surrounding who can do research and where it is done, which can lead to increased undergraduate research participation in students from diverse backgrounds.

Closing Thoughts

To recruit and train future leaders across fields and promote the important research colleges and universities contribute to society, higher education institutions must move toward a more holistic approach to research engagement that considers undergraduate students as an integral part of the research enterprise.

While faculty and graduate programs should still be the foundation of any research university, engaging more undergraduate students ensures we are able to help students develop important skills they can bring to any industry, open career paths students may never have considered and enable higher education to better communicate the importance of our research to the general public.