BEST PRACTICES IN INTERNATIONAL UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FROM THE INDEPENDENT STUDY PROGRAM AT THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER

Mentoring undergraduate students in international research is a long-standing tradition in the Department of Geology at the College of Wooster. Wooster is a small liberal arts college with a Geology Department that consists of four faculty members and >20 majors, of which, ~10 complete an Independent Study (I.S.) each year. I.S., which has been the keystone of the College’s curriculum for more than 60 years, requires each senior to complete a rigorous, original research project with one-on-one supervision by a faculty mentor. I.S. represents one-quarter of a senior’s academic program and culminates in a written thesis and public presentation. In the Geology Department, I.S. begins in the spring of their junior year, where majors study the concepts and techniques of geologic research and write a proposal that typically forms the basis of their Senior I.S. projects. In the summer between their junior and senior years, geology majors are encouraged to do extended field-work, and have undertaken field studies in many international locations, including Iceland, Israel, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Europe. Here we present our experiences with international undergraduate research from the perspectives of senior and early-career faculty. We (1) give examples that illustrate the successful design and development of an international undergraduate research project; (2) present tips for planning an international field experience (including dealing with safety/security risks); (3) describe how we use Junior I.S. to prepare Wooster students for international field-work; and (4) discuss academic and emotional issues that undergraduate students encounter with international research and strategies for overcoming those issues.