Undergraduate Research
The "Undergraduate Research Program" in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources is designed to prepare students to respond effectively to the complex, contemporary, and multidisciplinary issues of agricultural sciences and natural resources. To encourage research by undergraduates as an integral part of the education process, we offer a sequential two-course series (6 semester hours) in research methodology. The Program provides undergraduates with formal training in the general principles of organizing, planning, designing, and conducting research, and in gaining experience in problem solving.
AGSC 4300 - Research Methodology in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
The Program Structure
The First of the Two-Course Series:
AGSC 4300 (Research Methodology in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources) is offered by CASNR in the Fall Semester and focuses upon "Research Principles." This course is team-taught by CASNR faculty and provides the general principles for organizing, planning, designing, and conducting research. Formal coursework includes:
- Topics such as
- What is a research problem and how are researchable problems identified?
- What are objectives and how are they linked to the researchable problem?
- What is the importance of literature review and what should it include?
- How are theoretical concepts relevant to the research problem developed and used?
- How to develop and use methods and procedures to accomplish objectives?
- How are research results effectively reported?
- Review of technical writing skills.
- An assortment of CASNR research projects presented by several faculty
Concurrent to the formal coursework, each student selects a faculty mentor and under his/her guidance develops a detailed research proposal during this semester.
The Second of the Two-Course Series:
The second course in the series is offered in the Spring Semester as a special problem course under the guidance of the faculty mentor selected earlier. Students register in their respective departmental "special problems" courses (i.e., AAEC 4301, ANSC 4001, etc.). The objective of the second course is to provide opportunities to students in gaining experience in applied research. Students are required to conduct the research based on the research proposal developed in AGSC 4300 and submit a research report to the faculty mentor and present a poster summarizing the research at the CASNR Undergraduate Seminar.
Undergraduate Research Competitive Grant:
Any undergraduate majors in CASNR, who has completed the first of the two-course sequence and is registered for the second course, would be eligible for the research grant. The grant application must be sponsored by the faculty mentor and submitted by the student to CASNR for funding consideration. The College will fund undergraduate research grants on a competitive basis. Each grant is for $1,000, of which $500 will be awarded to the student and the remainder used for supplies and travel as determined necessary by the faculty mentor.
Undergraduate Research Presentations and Awards:
An Undergraduate Research Seminar will be conducted each year by CASNR. All CASNR undergraduates involved in research and students completing the two-course series are eligible to participate. Poster presentations will be judged by a faculty committee and three outstanding presentations recognized with cash awards of $500, $300, and $200 for first, second, and third place winners, respectively.
Opportunities for Honors Credit:
The two-course series (6 semester hours) in research methodology could be contracted with the Honors College and could make the student eligible for graduating with "Highest Honors."
Honors College's Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) program
Are you a faculty member interested in having an undergraduate researcher for 2005-06? The Honors College’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) program is open to students from all fields interested in teaming up with a tenure-track professor on campus to conduct scholarly research. Students accepted into the URF program may work up to 20 hours per week conducting research and are compensated by the Honors College at $6 per hour (Faculty with grant funding are asked to cover 1/2 of the student’s funding.). The faculty member agrees to be a research mentor for the student throughout the year.
The fellowship season runs from mid-September to mid-May. URF fellows: may not be employed elsewhere while part of the program, must have at least a 3.25 cumulative GPA at TTU, and be taking 12 or more credit hours both semesters of the fellowship.
All fellows will participate in TTU Student Research Days in April 2006. Students will present posters of their research for the public and compete for scholarship prizes. Many faculty members provide additional opportunities for students to present their research at discipline-specific conferences.
This is a great program for students considering graduate school or a career in academia. For more about the program, visit http://www.depts.ttu.edu/honors/urf/.
A few fellowship positions remain for the 2005-2006 school year. Applications for these fellowships will be accepted until Friday, September 9th, 2005. Contact Joel Walker at 2-1828 or joel.r.walker@ttu.edu for more information.