Introduction to Engineering Research. Wendy C. Crone
appreciate the societal impact of engineering research responsible conduct of research, communicating research findings, research careers, and the graduate school application process. This broader training outside the of the specific research experience has been long advocated by the Council on Undergraduate Research as critical to “socializ[ing] students in the research laboratory culture.8”
The semester-long Introduction to Engineering Research course developed for the Engineering Physics undergraduate degree program and taught at University of Wisconsin–Madison addressed the topic above as well as the importance of diversity in research, research collaboration, safety, and intellectual property. This course was later adapted and implemented at Washington State University and University of Central Florida in a National Science Foundation funded effort. The evaluation of the implementations on their campuses showed that “there was a measurable increase in the understanding of undergraduate research in the students at all institutions.9” The subsequent work performed showed that the mode of delivery did not influence the student outcomes. “Similar gains in conceptual awareness between each course format and at each institution” were shown with a one-week faculty-led boot camp, a three-day peer mentor-led course, and a semester-long faculty-led course.10 Thus, I believe that the usage of the content provided in this book can be successfully adapted to a number of different delivery modes.
I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment of Schneider et al. that “By introducing students to the nuances of the research environment, we believe that preresearch courses reduce barriers to involvement and provide confidence and knowledge for all students who participate.11” In our evaluations of the Engineering Physics degree program at the UW–Madison, upon which this book is based, the students who completed the program rated their research confidence and skill levels highly. The majority of students felt that they were able to make contributions to a research team, explain their research topic to other engineers as well as non-engineers, document their research, provide their peers with constructive feedback on their research projects, and identify research misconduct issues. They also reported that they gained skills in conducting a literature search, understanding journal papers, conducting a research project, working both independently and collaboratively, utilizing scientific method, dealing with setbacks, giving and receiving feedback, presenting information, and articulating questions.
These topics are also highly relevant to the first-year graduate student. Even if a student has had a prior undergraduate research experience, revisiting topics can lead to deeper understanding and further skill development. My goal is that students using this book, either independently or while engaged in a research professional development program/course, will be able to gain the skills they need to be successful and achieve a high level of confidence in their research capabilities.
Wendy C. Crone
February 2020
1Cadwell, K., Crone, W., 2008. Training undergraduates in the broader context of the research enterprise, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, 1364, 1–9.
2The Undergraduate Research Center for Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics and the Center for Academic and Research Excellence, University of California at Los Angeles, http://college.ucla.edu/urc-care/. Accessed January 2008.
3Wilson, R., Cramer, A., and Smith, J. L., 2004. Research is another word for education, from Reinvigorating the Undergraduate Experience: Successful Models Supported by NSF’s AIRE/RAIRE Program, L. R. Kauffman and J. E. Stocks, Eds., Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington, DC.
4The University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program. http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/, accessed January 2008.
5The University of Virginia Department of Science, Technology, and Society Undergraduate Thesis Project, http://www.sts.virginia.edu/stshome/tiki-index.php?page=Undergraduate+ Thesis accessed January 2008.
6Katkin, W., 2004. The integration of research and education: A case study of reinventing undergraduate education at a research university, from Reinvigorating the Undergraduate Experience: Successful Models Supported by NSF’s AIRE/RAIRE Program, L. R. Kauffman and J. E. Stocks, Eds., Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington, DC: 2004.
7Bahr, D. F. and Findley, K. O., 2007. An intensive ‘camp’ format to provide undergraduate research experiences to first year students. Materials Research Society 2007 Fall Meeting: Session W4: Implementing New Course Materials and Strategies, November 28.
8Merkel, C. A. and Baker, S. M., How to Mentor Undergraduate Researchers, Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington, DC, 2002.
9Burkett, S. L., Lusth, J. C., Bahr, D., Pressley, S., and Schneider, K., 2013. Three training programs for preparing undergraduates to conduct research. Proc. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
10Schneider, K. R., Bahr, D., Burkett, S., Lusth, J. C., Pressley, S., and VanBennekom, N., 2016. Jump starting research: Preresearch STEM programs. Journal of College Science Teaching, 45(5), p. 13.
11Schneider, K. R., Bahr, D., Burkett, S., Lusth, J. C., Pressley, S., and VanBennekom, N., 2016. Jump starting research: Preresearch STEM programs. Journal of College Science Teaching, 45(5), p. 13.
Acknowledgments
This book is based on my experiences as a research mentor, graduate advisor, instructor in the College of Engineering, and an administrator in the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I am grateful to all of the undergraduate and graduate research assistants who worked with me over the years, not only for their research contributions, but also for how they helped me to develop and learn as a mentor. Although I have taught the course “Introduction to Engineering Research” for more semesters than I can count, it would not have been as successful without the help of a number of key individuals over the years. I would like to thank Professors Greg Moses, Jake Blanchard, and Carl Sovinec as well as other colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for their collaboration and shared vision in developing the Engineering Physics degree program and the research sequence upon which this book is based.
I also appreciate the opportunities I had to interact with students in the Engineering Physics undergraduate program and especially for their phenomenal engagement, performance, and feedback. I am especially grateful to former undergraduate and graduate students whose perspectives, insights, and comments are included in the Student Perspectives. These are included in the book with permission from Grant Bodner, Christopher Coaty, Aidan Combs, Brian Cornille, David Czajkowski, Chelsea D’Angelo, Tom Dobbins, Chris Everson, Thomas E. Gage, Brad Gundlach, Cale Kasten, Matt Klebenow, Brian Kupczyk, Geoff McConohy, Hugh Ni, Blair Seidlitz, Dan Segal, and Vladimir Zhdankin. I would also like to thank my father, Richard Crone, and husband, Alan Carroll, for proofreading drafts, and my editor, Paul Petralia, for both his patience and nudging to help me get this book completed.
Dr. Katie Cadwell, who was a postdoctoral research associate with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and is now a Professor at Syracuse University, helped to collect valuable learning resources in an earlier expansion of the course. She also helped to make aspects of it accessible to students outside University of Wisconsin–Madison, and worked with Prof. Naomi Chesler and myself on a related project connected to the undergraduate engineering design experience. I appreciate the funding support received from the National Science Foundation through the MRSEC (#DMR-0079983 and #DMR-0520527) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering 2010 grant for Transforming Undergraduate Education in the College of Engineering. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation nor the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
I had the pleasure of serving in several different administrative roles in the Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for five years. These