MENTORED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENT PROJECTS: PREPARING GRADUATES AND ENABLING ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Frontiers Abroad Aotearoa in partnership with the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, provides an immersive research experience for U.S. study abroad students through structured and guided research methods courses. These courses are designed to link field research, data collection, lab analysis, with instruction in scientific research. The core of this course is structured around students conducting their own independent research, culminating in a journal-article style manuscript or scientific report, and a professional research poster presentation (many of which are presented at the annual GSA conference). These courses have been designed to guide students through their research journey, introducing fundamental skills, processes, graphic design, scientific writing, presentation, and reporting. Each student defines and initiates their research question under the guidance of an academic mentor. Fundamental in this conceptual stage is to define a project that is of interest to the student, of importance/significance, and is also completable within an academic semester (~12 weeks). Students are guided (lectures and tutorials) through the research process, with assessments designed and implemented at critical stages (i.e. research proposal and a three slide presentation - to clearly highlight their research question(s) and objectives). Assessments are also directly linked to the culminating end products – reducing the effect of assessing just for assessment sake. With the involvement of academic staff, our students are actively contributing to ongoing research programs, enabling collaboration and networking, and exposed to specific skill sets and analytical techniques. These student projects provide a framework for conducting academic research, which individually may be of significance, or cumulatively begin to answer and contribute to our scientific knowledge and objectives. The Frontiers Abroad Aotearoa and University of Canterbury partnership allows students to directly engage with authentic research, and inspires them to pursue their research aspirations in the field of earth and environmental sciences.