Online Journal Puts Undergraduate Research in the Spotlight
December 2005
More and more, original research is an integral part of undergraduate life in the College of Arts and Sciences. By next spring, a new research journal will give students the chance to showcase their best research efforts on the World Wide Web.
The College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal will be a storehouse of more than 200 works per year, done mostly by seniors. To maintain the site’s academic rigor, department chairs, undergraduate chairs and program directors will be in charge of selecting the projects that will be included.
“We continually encourage our students to get involved with research at the undergraduate level,” said College Dean Dennis DeTurck, the driving force behind CUREJ. “Until now, there have been few places for many of them to exhibit what they’ve discovered.”
In addition to providing a platform for undergraduate research, DeTurck wants the online journal to inspire faculty members to mentor students and include them in their work. CUREJ will include research conducted solely by undergraduates as well as papers done in conjunction with faculty.
“One of Penn’s great strengths is that because there’s so much research going on, it’s really easy for students to get involved – not just in a peripheral way, but to really do their own research,” said Mike Sheehan, a 2005 College graduate. “The first bit of research that I did in the anthropology department was with a faculty member. I’m co-author on the paper, and that’s really incredible.”
Because the site can accommodate all types of media, CUREJ will feature non-traditional research projects, such as photography, musical compositions, video animations and computer simulations. That way, it will be a tool to demonstrate the best undergraduate offerings from all undergraduate programs in the College, DeTurck said.
“We wouldn’t be developing this Web site if we weren’t absolutely confident in the quality of work being produced by our undergraduates,” he added.
A recent survey indicates that more than 60 percent of students in the College of Arts and Sciences have substantial research under their belts. DeTurck hopes that CUREJ, along with other efforts by the College to encourage undergraduate research, will increase that number substantially.