Undergraduates doing research on Late
Cretaceous dinosaurs and geology in
I
am convinced that undergraduates benefit from doing research, and especially by
working on projects of their own. As an undergraduate I found it incredibly rewarding to
produce new knowledge and discoveries in science, and to not just learn (and get
tested on) already discovered knowledge. For
example, when I was a college student at Albertson College of Idaho, I did an independent field and museum
research project on Pliocene mammals from southwestern Idaho that I had spent a
summer collecting. This project
became my undergraduate senior thesis and later my M.S. thesis (paper). I gave my
first presentation on this research as a college senior at the annual meeting of
the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1986.
Doing research (and presenting it at a national meeting) was one of the
most important activities that I did in college, both personally and
professionally.
Based on my own experience doing research as an undergraduate student, I encourage students to become involved in research. At California State University, Stanislaus (CSUS), I have included many undergraduates in research projects. I bring undergraduate students to Big Bend National Park every January to do field work (photo). Following this field trip, they and other students do more research, and then submit abstracts on their work. Also, in some of my classes at CSUS, I include a small research project. For many students this is their favorite part of the class, and it is often their first research experience. Last semester, the students in my History of Earth and Life class did research on Big Bend fossils, and they (all 23 of them) presented their research poster at Cal Paleo in April, a regional paleontology conference (photo). By the way, we at CSUS are hosting Cal Paleo in 2008! Stay tuned!
