First Year Research Experience Presentation

Part of participating in the First Year Research Experience was presenting your findings to the public. As a team, we decided to do a talk at Miami Universities Undergraduate Research Forum. The slides from the talk are included below. 

Abstract

Students in a First Year Research Experience [FYRE] class conducted group projects focused on "Communicating Research to Public Audiences." Specifically, the projects examined how research opportunities have been impacted by the pandemic and how to best leverage the online environment. Our study explores how to best communicate research with novice undergraduate researchers to increase awareness of research being conducted at the university and identify available opportunities. The research was conducted through interviews with undergraduate students and faculty members to obtain multiple perspectives from disciplines such as Psychology, Linguistics, Accounting, Computer Science, Kinesiology, and International Studies. The interviews were then transcribed and annotated to find themes across the data. Our analysis showed that although students are aware that research allows opportunities for hands-on experience and a way to be involved on campus, they did not know how to get involved due to a perceived lack of information available openly to first year and undergraduates. It is possible that they do not know how to approach professors or because their major does not have a lot of opportunities that are well advertised. Suggestions were offered on how to spread awareness by hosting research events, inviting professors to openly talk about their projects, leveraging social media and email communication, and developing creative posters. As a group, despite our varied majors, we have benefited from this research project by becoming aware of ongoing research at Miami University. Even though everyone has a different major, we gained valuable insights and transferable skills that will further our individual careers. This study also highlights ways for undergraduates to receive awareness about research around them and start conducting their own.