Abstract:
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Undergraduate research (UR) initiatives face many challenges. Junior faculty may face disincentives from participating because the potential outcomes of such work are undervalued in the tenure process. Moreover, the time constraints faced by faculty members are such that supervision of undergraduates must be compensated at a level commensurate with the value that it is purported to possess. UR represents a unique opportunity to expose students to the independent scholarship model, and often inspires them to pursue statistics further. Faculty who engage in UR reap great benefits in their teaching, as envisioned from the teacher-scholar model. The disconnect between value added and compensation for UR, and the constant budgetary constraints faced by institutions of higher education necessitate novel ways of weaving UR supervision into a professor's duties. In my talk, I will discuss my experiences in teaching so-called capstone courses to advanced undergraduates at a liberal arts college. I will summarize strategies which I have found to be successful in: producing high-quality work, having this work extend beyond the course framework, and disseminating UR results in worthy venues.
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