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Undergraduate Research Collaboration Between Penn State Main Campus and One of Its Remote Campuses

Aiman S. Kuzmar, Ph. D., P. E.

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus One University Drive, Uniontown, PA 15401

Abstract

Undergraduate research has been heavily promoted recently by universities and through local, state and federal agencies. The importance and benefits of this type of research have been well documented in the literature. The general focus of universities without graduate programs is on teaching, and less emphasis is given to research. Consequently, such universities face various challenges to carry out undergraduate research. Some institutes, like Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus have only transfer programs for their engineering students. Carrying out undergraduate research in such institutes is very challenging. Creative approaches are needed to undertake such research.

A new collaborative engineering research effort was started between the remote Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus and the main University Park Campus of the Pennsylvania State University. In this program, an undergraduate student starts to formulate his or her undergraduate research study at Penn State Fayette during his or her first and second years. The student carries out the research in his or her third and fourth years at Penn State Fayette while he or she studies at the University Park campus. This can be done during school breaks and summer time. This paper outlines the background behind this new collaborative undergraduate research program. It gives details on the pilot project, which started this program.

Introduction

Until recently, undergraduate students were excluded from the business of research. Only faculty and graduate students in the academic circle and research organizations outside academia used to conduct and benefit from research. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a leading research institute ended this practice by establishing the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in 1969.1 The academic community recognized the importance of undergraduate research to the students themselves in particular, and to the society in general.2 This resulted in an exponential growth in this type of research.

Many universities nowadays promote undergraduate research in one form or another. Several universities like the University of Miami, Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Central Florida have special programs to support undergraduate research. These programs provide needed funds to carry out such research projects ranging from a few hundred

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005. American Society of Engineering education”

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Kuzmar, A. (2005, June), Undergraduate Research Collaboration Between Penn State Main Campus And One Of Its Remote Campuses Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14556