Goodbye SURI 2008!

It’s hard to believe that the summer quarter is over this week. We have really enjoyed meeting many of you and getting to know a little about your research efforts. We hope that you were able to attend a program, meet a fellow researcher or gain some helpful information from our website, blog or emails. If you have not already done so, please complete a SURI evaluation today. This is the first year of what we hope will be an annual effort, and your feedback will help us to learn and improve.

Remember, you can continue to stay in touch with the Undergraduate Research Office and what’s happening on and off campus at our website: http://ugresearch.adm.ohio-state.edu.

Lastly, here are a few reminders:

Wednesday, August 20, SURI Closing Ice Cream Celebration, in 100 Page Hall. You can stop by any time between 6 and 7:30 p.m. to grab a bowl of ice cream and say goodbye.

Apply to uro@osu.edu by August 22 to present a poster highlighting your summer research (progress report or final results) at the Fall Undergraduate Research Day Poster Forum on October 19th.

Journal of Undergraduate Research at The Ohio State University (JUROS), accepting submissions for the premier issue NOW!

Adieu! Sayonara! Adios! L’hitraot! Goodbye and Good Luck!

Approaching the Finish Line

The end of summer quarter is fast approaching and some of you may have preliminary results only, while others have completed your summer research projects and are writing up your final results. Wherever in the research process you may be, we hope that you are thinking about publicizing your summer research at a conference, poster forum or in a professional publication. Please consider one of the following campus opportunities for OSU students:

JUROS, the Journal of Undergraduate Research at The Ohio State University, is now accepting submissions for its first-ever online publication. All undergraduate students involved in any area of study are encouraged to submit their work to the appropriate sections: Arts & Humanities, Science & Technology, and Social Science, Business & Education. Papers are accepted on a rolling basis and are judged in a double-blind peer review.

Submission requirements can be viewed online at http://www.jurosonline.com/. Manuscripts must be tailored to the section's requirements, including page length, citation style and format. Papers are typically 15-20 pages in length. A submission to JUROS requires an electronic manuscript as a Microsoft Word document, completed author-agreement forms for each student-author and a faculty-agreement form; all submission materials must be sent as attachments by e-mail to juros.submissions@gmail.com. Both the faculty advisor and student-author(s) will be contacted personally to validate authorship before the manuscript is considered for review.

All other necessary forms, formatting information, upcoming events, contact information, and answers to other questions are available at http://www.jurosonline.com/. Questions should be forwarded to Olga Borodulin at juros@osu.edu.

Undergraduate Research Day Poster Forum on October 19th
The URO is currently accepting applications to present a poster highlighting your summer research (progress report or final results) at the Fall Undergraduate Research Day. Apply to uro@osu.edu by August 22nd. Your application should include a brief letter explaining why your participation in the poster forum would be beneficial, as well as name, major(s), advisor’s name, project title, and an abstract describing your goals, methods, findings and significance of your project in 200 words or less. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your research and gain valuable experience communicating your results.

There are many other opportunities to publicize your research. Check out the URO website at http://ugresearch.adm.ohio-state.edu/ for more ideas.. Visit the Present at Forums and Present in Journals pages specifically. Good luck!

Coming up next week:
SURI Closing Ice Cream Celebration
Wednesday, August 20, 6-7:30pm
100 Page Hall
RSVP to uro@osu.edu so we know how much to order!

SURI events this week: 8/4-10

Hope you are getting into the Olympic spirit! Opening ceremony begins Friday night at 7:30pm on NBC. Interesting tidbit: in China, the ceremony will begin at 8:08pm, 8/8/08. Eight happens to be a very lucky number in Chinese because it is a homonym for "good fortune."  

 

We'll be having our weekly vittles at the Brown Bag Lunch on Wednesday at noon on the Oval. Come even if you haven't been able to join us yet this whole summer! Also on Saturday evening will be our Ultimate game (sadly, not yet an Olympic sport) at 6pm on the Lincoln turf fields. 

 

In other news, Helene is out of the office this week, and Wednesday is Michael's last day as he is moving to Boston on Thursday. Suzanne will be at the URO during our office hours (8:30-3:30) this week.

 

Coming up next week:

Quiet Rage

Research Ethics Dinner, Film, and Discussion

Tuesday, August 12

5-7pm, 110B Page Hall

Please RSVP to uro@osu.edu

 

Come join us and the Office of Responsible Research Practices for an evening of pizza served up with a helping of controversy. Have you ever wondered why researchers have to be trained and fill out pesky applications for any research involving humans? Curious about how researchers are still running into ethical problems today?

 

Also mark your calendars for:

SURI Closing Ice Cream Celebration

Wednesday, August 20, 6-7:30pm

Presenting your research

Tuesday’s workshop, Teaching Your Peers: Poster Presentation Basics with Tsui Yi Cheah and Laurie Maynell from Faculty and TA Development was a great learning experience. Students looked at both the poster content and design, as well as discussed strategies for oral presentations with various audiences. Here are a few pointers that we picked up:

Poster Content:

• Why is this important/interesting? Why should I care?
• What is the problem/hypothesis that you researched?
• What is the rationale/relevant literature? How does this fit into the discipline?
• What method(s) did you use?
• Did you find a solution/results?
• What is the next step/future research to be?

Poster Design:

• Key information should be easy to read
• There should be an obvious flow pattern
• Will you be present to explain? If not, could someone make sense of it without you?

Assessing the Audience/Engagement Strategies:

• Assess who they are: expert in your topic? Knowdgeable in your field?
• Provide small pieces of information, follow up with questions to assess/confirm clarity, direction
• Let your audience guide the interaction
• Target information to THEIR interests
• Let them move on when they want to
• Find the intersection of your goals with your audience’s needs
• Practice! Practice! Practice!

Tips for the Big Day:

• Name tag on the left
• Have business cards
• Eat before your presentation
• Keep a bottle of water with you
• Dress nicely but comfortably, especially shoes
• Breathe! Relax!

Becoming an expert poster maker and presenter takes time and practice. There are many resources to help you. Here’s a link to many tutorials and examples for students who want to learn more: http://denman.osu.edu/resources.aspx

You can also access handouts from this presentation:

• Poster Components
• Sample Poster Evaluation

Want to polish your skills at an actual poster forum? Consider applying for the Sigma Xi Student Research Conference November 22-23, 2008 in Washington, D.C. The deadline for abstracts is October 15, 2008.

Also, as Dr. Snow mentioned, we will be having an exhibition of poster presentations during our 2nd Annual Undergraduate Research Day on Sunday, October 19th. We're moving forward with the planning, and look out for a call for abstracts very soon!

How's it going? - A message from Dr. Snow

From Dr. Allison Snow, Director of the OSU Undergraduate Research Office

By now, Summer Quarter is more than half over – a good time to take stock of how your research is progressing.

1. Expect Delays

If you are right on schedule, doing exactly what you proposed (or more), this is quite unusual!

It often turns out that the devil is in the details and things take much longer than anticipated. Problem-solving is supposed to be good for you, especially if you have to work independently, but running into too many delays and dead-ends can be frustrating. So, in case you are getting a case of the research blues, here are a few words of encouragement. . .

• If you’re disappointed by the slow pace of your research, consider getting advice and changing your plans so you will have at least a few solid results by the end of Summer Quarter. Most of us are too ambitious and overly optimistic when planning a research project.

• If this applies to you, maybe one of your sub-questions should be elevated to your main question.

  Or maybe you can find a new line of inquiry that will lead to faster progress.

• Keep in mind that when you read a research paper or see a presentation, you rarely find out how much preliminary work led up to the finished project (thank goodness, because this could be dull for the audience!).
• Somewhere, I heard that publications represent the salvaged remains of a major shipwreck, all tidied up to tell a coherent story! This often happens with my own research in biology. To keep from going crazy, I have come to view this experience as “normal.”
• Sometimes, you may not even have a story to tell when your time runs out, in which case you could change your final report to a “progress report.”

Whatever happens, it’s important to persevere, be strategic, and make the best of your situation.

2. Getting the Job Done

Research that is never presented to an audience – as a paper, poster, talk, exhibit, or the like – is not really complete and will not help you nearly as much as presented work. As an undergraduate, you probably have much shorter time period for research than a graduate student or professor, who might take several years to complete a project, often working as part of a team. For you, it’s important to make sure your research is completed and presented to a broader audience before you graduate, ideally before you need letters of recommendation from your professors.

Speaking of presentations, there are many outlets for your work, starting with informal presentations for your peers and professors. Check out the URO website for information about Fall Research Day (October 19th), the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum (in May), and the new student-run online, research journal, JUROS (Journal of Undergraduate Research at Ohio State). Consider writing a thesis and graduating “With Distinction” to add this impressive accomplishment to your academic transcript.

In conclusion, I hope you find your summer research experience to be worthwhile, regardless of how closely it matches your original expectations. You should be very proud to be part of the world-renowned research community at Ohio State!

SURI events this week: 7/28-8/3

Hello, August is practically upon us!

This is your last chance to sign up for Tuesday afternoon's workshop on poster presentations. It's from 4-6pm in 300 Younkin Success Center. Space is limited, so RSVP today.

Wednesday is our staple brown bag lunch. If the weather is wet, come to 60 Page Hall at noon-but we have lucked out all summer so far!

Saturday is our continuing Ultimate Frisbee games outside of Lincoln tower. Meet on the grass fields near Lincoln at 6pm.

Looking for more things to do around Columbus this weekend?

• Wednesday is the start of the annual extravaganza that is the Ohio State Fair. It runs through August 10th, and is within walking distance of campus.
• Saturday is the monthly Gallery Hop located in the Short North (just south of campus). It's completely open to the public, and there are tons of galleries, restaurants, and bars to visit.
• This weekend is the Dublin Irish Festival-one of the biggest in the country. There's plenty of traditional and modern Celtic music and food.

Coming up:
Quiet Rage: a film and research ethics discussion
Tuesday, August 12 at 5pm
110 Page Hall
Dinner is included, so please RSVP to uro@osu.edu

Resumes and Personal Statements

In the last couple weeks, we have hosted two workshops focusing on two vital parts of any job or graduate/professional school search: the resume/cover letter and personal statements. For those of you rising seniors, now is the perfect time to begin, edit, and polish these. For others, it is always useful to have them on hand if an internship or grant opportunity unexpectedly pops up.

Special thanks goes out to our two presenters Allison Plunkett and Stacie Stormer. Both are from Career Connection at Ohio State, a career services and advising office open throughout the year to any Ohio State student with questions about career planning. This includes looking at and applying to graduate and professional schools. Below are the presentations slides and handouts from the workshops, and we hope that you take advantage of these resources. Lastly, please don't forget to RSVP for next Tuesday's presentation workshop!

Resume and Cover Letter Presentation
Resume Checklist Handout
Personal Statement Presentation
Personal Statement Handouts