Course Description

Faculty-supervised collaborative inquiry into fundamental and applied problems involving multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students. Students will gather, analyze, synthesize, and interpret data, present results in writing and other relevant communication formats, learn and practice professional skills, and make substantial contributions to real-world projects.

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Athena Title

VIPR Team Senior Level

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Non-Traditional Format

In VIPR, teams of undergraduate students – from various years, disciplines and backgrounds – work with faculty and graduate students in their areas of scholarship and exploration. This is a senior-level course in a progressive research course sequence to promote a student’s increasing skill development and depth of inquiry, as well as growing independent research capability. The courses require the close supervision of a faculty member as the student undertakes a systematic and in-depth inquiry into multidisciplinary problems. In all cases, the student will work collaboratively as part of a research team. The student must apply disciplinary training to multidisciplinary questions to identify or shape research questions and apply skills and techniques learned to the research project. Students will gather data, synthesize relevant literature, analyze, and interpret data. The student will present results in writing or through participation in research-group or program meetings and meetings with their faculty mentor. The student will receive feedback from the faculty mentors on their research progress and written or oral presentation of results. A minimum of 45 hours of work per credit hour per semester is required. VIPR extends project-based learning beyond a single semester, with students participating for up to three years. It provides the time and context for students to gain deeper insights into their field of study, to learn and practice professional skills, to make substantial contributions to real-world projects, and to experience different roles on large, multidisciplinary teams. The long-term nature of VIPR creates an environment of mentorship, with faculty and graduate students mentoring teams, experienced students mentoring new members, and students moving into leadership roles as others graduate.

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Prerequisite

Experience serving on a research team as determined by faculty leads during application

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Semester Course Offered

Offered fall

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Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

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Student learning Outcomes

• Students will understand how to critically read primary literature associated with VIPR project.
• Students will understand how to collect and analyze relevant data.
• Students will understand how to build and evaluate conceptual models that help us understand the subject of the VIPR project.
• Students will understand how to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
• Students will understand how to conduct research ethically and responsibly.
• Students will understand how to work as a team and serve as a peer mentor.

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Topical Outline

• The Vertically Integrated Projects for Research (VIPR) Program operates in a research and development context. Each research experience is an independent collaboration between the faculty member and multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students. As such, there is no set topical outline. Undergraduate students that join VIPR teams earn academic credit for their participation in design/discovery efforts that assist faculty and graduate students with research and development issues in their areas of expertise. The teams are multidisciplinary, drawing students from all disciplines on campus; vertically-integrated, maintaining a mix of undergraduates and graduate or professional students each semester; long-term, each undergraduate student may participate in a project for up to three years. The VIPR course will aim to provide enough structure for the student to learn and make progress with the research but not so much that each team can't pursue new and fruitful directions. Students will have “assignments” like one would have for completing a project as part of a team. They will be important for students to understand and make progress on the research. Assignments may include but are not limited to: - Reading and summarizing research articles, including those in the primary literature - Documenting progress in writing and through presentations in meetings with peers and faculty - Constructively respond to feedback on their papers or presentations from faculty mentors - Reporting the student's/team’s progress during weekly meetings - Participating during weekly discussions and following through on the weekly time commitment to the research and the team - Writing an end-of-semester research brief or full research report Student time commitment for 1 credit = ~3 hours/week. Some weeks the student may have to spend more time to make sure time-sensitive research tasks get done. Other weeks the student may spend less time because of other student time commitments.

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Experiential Learning Outcomes

Research

Demonstrate and describe how systematic and in-depth inquiry into a problem contributes to the discovery or interpretation of knowledge significant to their field of study

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