From April 21 to 25, Stevens celebrated its first undergraduate research week.
Each day was filled with an exciting event dedicated for students to explore research opportunities, network with peers, and commemorate student research achievements.
Andrés Mansisidor, the Director of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, states that the purpose of these events was to celebrate in solidarity with the National Undergraduate Research Week. At other universities, it’s typically centered around a research symposium. However, as Stevens’ research symposium occurs during the fall, the week was designed to be more celebratory with a kickoff event and smaller research-related workshops and mixers. It was outlined to build a community between students looking to get into research, students already involved with research, and recent alumni pursuing graduate research. Mansisidor hoped the events would increase the exposure of research-centric careers and celebrate the accomplishments that students had. Furthermore, the events were planned in collaboration with the Office of Undergraduate Research and SGA representative Christina Alexandrov.
The full list of events were:
Monday, April 21: Kickoff Event
Tuesday, April 22: NSF & Research Fellowship Info
Wednesday, April 23: Simons Neuroscience Fellowship Tips
Thursday, April 24: Research Journal & Writing Center and Inclusion in Research Workshop.
Friday, April 25: Lunch with Research Director
The week began with the kickoff event hosted in UCC Gallery. A few dozen students came, with some interested in starting research, others already involved, and even a few future students. To break the ice, there were several research-centered mixer activities including science trivia and undergraduate research bingo. It also served as an opportunity to network with fellow students.
During the kickoff, two Stevens alumni came to discuss their ongoing research stories. The first speaker, Abdullah Hyder, talked about his research in plasma physics and his research story about turning tech to academia. The second speaker, Kaylyn Spotton, discussed how she is synthesizing new antibiotics.
In addition to the alumni talks, several research awards were given out. The nominations for these awards took place prior to the undergraduate research week. These awards are meant to celebrate underclassmen, upperclassmen, all undergraduate researchers, graduate mentors, junior faculty, and tenured faculty.
On Friday, April 25, the final event was lunch with the Director of Undergraduate Research. It was a chance to network with Mansisidor and other students about applying to research, experiences in labs, and discussing summer research plans.
Mansisidor notes that there is now a blueprint for undergrad research week, next year, there will be more coordination between different staff and faculty departments. They also plan to make the undergraduate research awards better and more fun. They commented, “It’s a great pleasure to work with so many talented and driven students to pursue their careers in research, which can be a challenging and highly rewarding career path.”
If you want to get involved in research, the Undergraduate Research and Fellowships website serves as a central research opportunity hub. Next fall, the Stevens Undergraduate Research Fellows program will open up. It will serve as a roadmap for students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. and a research-centric career.
