When Bill Farquhar was doing his postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, he says, he rarely came into contact with undergraduates. Once he joined the University of Delaware faculty last fall, it was a different story.

"I was surprised to see the extent of undergraduate research here," says Farquhar, assistant professor of health and exercise sciences in the College of Health and Nursing Sciences. "Just the fact that the Undergraduate Research Program has its own office on campus shows that it's taken very seriously."

In fact, Farquhar says, even though his own research lab in cardiovascular physiology isn't yet up and running at UD, he already has three undergraduates helping him do preliminary data analysis. The students expressed an interest in doing research and volunteered to assist him, he says.

Farquhar is not alone in his view of the University's 23-year-old Undergraduate Research Program. Applauded as a national model for integrating research experiences into undergraduate education, the program has exceptionally high rates of participation by faculty and students in in-depth research collaborations, says Joan Bennett, the program coordinator.

At any given time, Bennett says, at least 600-700 undergraduates are actively involved in research on the UD campus. Two-thirds of the faculty--and more than 90 percent of the engineering and science faculty--regularly work with undergraduates in research. And, every academic department and research center at the University has a faculty member designated as the contact person for undergraduate research opportunities.

The success of UD's program has drawn national attention and was highlighted in November at a conference sponsored by The Reinvention Center at the State University of New York in Stony Brook. The center, an outgrowth of a Boyer Commission report on undergraduate education in general, was established two years ago to improve undergraduate education at research universities nationwide. The conference included several speakers from UD, who described the University's Undergraduate Research Program.

"For several years now, both the members of the Boyer Commission and Reinvention Center constituents have been impressed and even inspired by the examples set by the University of Delaware in the reform and enrichment of undergraduate education," says Wendy Katkin, director of The Reinvention Center. In praising the University, and Bennett in particular, Katkin calls the program "one of the best in the country."

The UD program began in 1979-80 as part of the University Honors Program and initially was funded by a three-year grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education. At the end of that pilot period, the University had the program evaluated by outside experts and decided to fund its continuation.

In the years since, the program has added such enhancements as a Summer Scholars Program, which gives selected undergraduates the financial support to allow them to conduct full-time research in the summer. Today's program also educates its participants in presentation skills, holding scientific poster sessions and symposia in which students communicate the results of their work. In addition, undergraduates can choose to write a senior thesis on their research, working toward degrees with distinction. Undergraduate research now is separate from the Honors Program, although the two work closely together, Bennett says.

The program also works closely with the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, which prepares low-income, first-generation college students and underrepresented students for doctoral study. UD's McNair Scholars, who learn to do research as undergraduates, have a 100 percent acceptance rate into graduate school. Nationwide, the 156 McNair programs have an average 33 percent placement rate.

"There have always been opportunities for a bright undergraduate to seek out a faculty member and offer to assist with that person's research," Bennett notes. "The goal of an undergraduate research program is to take those isolated events and develop a culture on the campus where everyone is aware of those opportunities and the importance of making them available."

That culture now is part of the University, observers say.

"We would be thrilled if all our undergraduates participated in research. That would be the ideal," says Conrado "Bobby" M. Gempesaw II, vice provost for academic and international programs. "We try to spread the word that this is so beneficial, such a significant educational experience, that it will help students now and also in their professional and educational futures."

In engineering and the sciences, where undergraduate research got its start, students generally assist in faculty members' ongoing research projects. The experience, faculty participants say, is mutually advantageous.

"I've always had undergraduate researchers," says Pamela Green, Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair in
Plant and Soil Sciences, who holds a joint appointment in marine studies. "By the time they finish, they're usually at the second-year graduate school level. These are very serious young scientists. We teach them to do experiments, and they make real contributions to our work."

Although many of those students
go on to graduate school or medical school, Green says, those who do not continue their educations also benefit from the undergraduate research experience. "In science, research teaches you analytical skills you don't get anywhere else," she says.

Robert Simons, professor of psychology, says undergraduates help advance his research. "I couldn't run a lab without the undergraduate researchers I've had recently," he says.

Isis Johnson, AG 2004, spent last summer doing field research in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources' woodlot. Working with Roland Roth, professor of entomology and applied ecology who has been studying the nesting behavior of the wood thrush for 30 years, she collected data on the number and spacing of nests and other factors.

"Being a Summer Scholar was a great experience, because I got to do research full time and also interact with other students and learn presentation skills," says Johnson, a wildlife conservation major who plans to attend graduate school. "When you're working with migratory birds that aren't even here until May or June, you have to do a lot of your work during the summer."

The University's commitment to undergraduate research has been a key part of an ongoing project to support undergraduate biology education, says Hal White, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recently awarded UD a four-year, $1.7 million grant for that program--the third major HHMI grant the University has received.

"The continuing success of our program stems from UD's excellent record of integrating research and undergraduate education," says White, who directs the University's HHMI program. "This is something that many research universities have trouble doing well."

Over the years, the Undergraduate Research Program has expanded more gradually from science and engineering into the social sciences, arts and humanities, Bennett says, adding that many institutions have little or no undergraduate research in those fields. At the Reinvention Center's conference in November, she says, the University's presentation about humanities research drew an overflow crowd.

"Humanities research is traditionally a solo pursuit that doesn't even offer in-depth collaboration with graduate students, much less with undergraduates," says Bennett, who also is a professor of English. "So, to have undergraduate research in those areas, you have to develop a whole new model of collaborative research, and that takes time and effort."

The efforts of faculty in those areas have yielded results, she says. More than 60 percent of faculty members in social sciences, arts and humanities regularly take part in undergraduate research, and more than 40 percent of the fully funded Summer Scholars last year were in those fields.

"What sets us apart at the University of Delaware is not just the size of our program but also the breadth," President David P. Roselle says. "It's unusual because it's so inclusive of all the disciplines. And, we've been able to do that because our faculty are so generous in their willingness to take on undergraduates and teach them the value of an inquiring mind."

--Ann Manser, AS '73, CHEP '73