Contents

Notes from the Collaborative

A Note from the Collaborative Director

Defining Collaboration: Collaborative Undergraduate Research Across the Disciplines

Collaborative Opportunities

Research and Academic Travel Funding Opportunities

Academic Travel Award Recipients

Celebrating Student and Faculty/Staff Collaborations

Student Profiles

Important Dates

Mar. 25, 2011 Collaborative Summer-Fall Grant applications due

Mar. 31 - Apr. 2, 2011 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)

Apr. 18, 2011 Collaborative Continuation Grant applications due

May 2, 2011 Student Academic Travel Grant and Attendee Grant applications due

Student Profile: Ellen Majowski 

My role in the Tri-State Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference was to present a study conducted during my Research Methods class with my partner, Brittney Stevenson. For the weeks prior to the conference, we worked together revising our abstract, adjusting our findings, and creating a poster to make our study suitable for presentation. While attending the conference, we also had the opportunity to listen to presentations about preparing for graduate school and future careers, speak with grad school representatives, and discuss studies completed by our peers.

We had 45 minutes to present our study. Many students and faculty members stopped by our station to read our poster and ask us questions about what we did. The feedback we experienced was overwhelmingly positive. Many students found our research on gender stereotypes interesting and valuable. Faculty members also approved of our methodology and the manner in which we presented the information. 

Because of my participation in this study, I am more confident in my ability to make complicated information understandable. As I am planning on going into the field of counseling, being able to explain new information to strangers will be a very valuable skill. I am also planning on going to graduate school for social work, where conducting research will be expected of me. I am glad I had this experience to understand the research project from beginning to end, and to get a feel for the environment of a research conference, as it is likely I will be attending more of them.

I think the most important thing I learned during this conference was how to condense information and still have it be understandable.  We took an 18-page manuscript and turned it into a poster, and had to be ready to give a 3-minute explanation to anyone who stopped by our display. We had to identify what the most important pieces of information were, and be ready to think on our feet when other attendees asked us questions. My confidence in my ability to speak in front of strangers definitely increased from having to present our study. Lastly, I learned a lot from the lectures given by faculty members. They spoke to us about the process of applying to graduate schools. As I am currently in the middle of this process, it was nice to have the opportunity to ask questions and hear more about what graduate schools specifically look at when considering applications. We also got to hear a lecture about eco-psychology, which is something I had never heard of before. It was very interesting to learn about the how the study of psychology is being used to help the environment.