About

The Undergraduate Research Symposium is a forum to showcase independent research undertaken by undergraduate students at UIC.  This is a student-run and organized event which continues to receive strong support from the UIC Office of the Dean, the UIC Honors College, the UIC student government and the UIC chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.  Typically 60-80 poster presentations are presented at this event on a wide variety of topics in the arts and sciences.  Faculty and alumni judges rate the quality of the presentations and award prizes in three categories – Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and the Humanities.

Mission Statement And Conference Objectives
1. To increase public and academic awareness of the significance of undergraduate research.
The main task of this conference will be to create and serve an emerging undergraduate research culture. This culture has been established and will be maintained through dissemination of research results of undergraduate projects through posters and formal talks as well as workshops pertaining to undergraduate research and graduate study.

2. To offer undergraduates the opportunity to disseminate research findings in a peer-dominated setting.
The conference will consist almost entirely of undergraduate students, advisors, interested faculty and outside individuals. As such, there will be no competition among unequal parties.

3. To offer undergraduates the opportunity to increase the quality of research presentation forms, including posters, abstracts and formal talks.
In addition to offering opportunities to discuss research with peers and interested parties, participants will be required to attend preparatory seminars and individualized tutoring sessions to increase the quality of abstracts, posters, and oral presentations. A template for abstract submission will be utilized in order to guide the process of abstract preparation. Efforts will be made to continue this interaction throughout the conference and beyond.

4. To provide a forum for faculty and students to expand creative pedagogical solutions for the inclusion of research in standard programs of education.
Workshops will be offered at the conference itself to create a forum for discussion of pedagogical modifications directed towards the inclusion of undergraduate research into traditional curricula. In addition, the directors of the symposium will encourage faculty to incorporate the conference itself as a requirement of current research and laboratory courses in interested departments.

5. To help undergraduates establish a smooth transition between undergraduate and graduate study, particularly in research-oriented graduate programs.
Workshops will be offered at the symposium to address the process of graduate study application in an effort to illuminate the connections between undergraduate and graduate study. In particular, the role of research will be emphasized as a means towards building a foundation for future study at graduate and medical institutions. In addition, a selection of representatives from various schools will be present at the conference to offer information about graduate programs and internships.

6. To include all fields of study in the dissemination of research, including humanities and art.
No field of study will be excluded in the conference as being unworthy of research presentation. Directors of the symposium will actively recruit participants from fields underrepresented in research conferences.

7. To expand opportunities for research opportunities to underrepresented minorities and women.
Women and minorities have in the past been equally represented in the UIC research symposium and this tradition will continue. Directors and board members of the symposium will put forth great effort to maintain the high level of diversity that this conference maintains.

8. To expand research presentation opportunities to high school students.
High school students from the Chicago area will be invited and transported to the conference in order to observe and participate in the event. This opportunity may serve to expand involvement of incoming college students in research.


Why An Undergraduate Research Symposium?
The creation of a unified undergraduate research culture stands as one of the most important challenges to universities across the United States. In particular, primarily research institutions such as the University of Illinois bear a large responsibility for establishing a forum in which undergraduates can disseminate the results of research undertaken as an adjunct to their education. In order to facilitate this need, conferences consisting entirely of undergraduate participants must be offered. Among a group of their peers, all undergraduates, whether currently or interested in conducting research, would benefit from such a conference. In general, there are a lack of conferences that address these needs. In addition, those professors who might easily create or support such conferences may be ignorant to the need. Opportunities to present results stemming from substantial research projects in all fields including the humanities, arts and sciences are lacking at most institutions, and in particular at large, public research universities.

Recent debates over the best approach towards training aspiring scientists and humanitarians in the ethics of research conduct highlights the necessity of beginning the process early. The question then becomes not why, but how this process of ethical emphasis may be incorporated early in the education of budding researchers. Increasing the importance of undergraduate research in academia may perhaps be one of the first steps in eradicating unethical conduct and misrepresentation of research findings.

Few conferences exist that allow undergraduates to present results in the company of peers and interested parties. The one available opportunity, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, is poorly publicized and fails to adequately cater to the humanities and social sciences. Many schools hold symposia in isolation, consisting almost entirely of small, departmental occasions showcasing the work of often fewer than twenty students. These symposia fail to offer a unified atmosphere of undergraduate academic involvement in the research process at the schools that offer them and are virtually unheard of outside of these elite institutions.

Undergraduates motivated towards research often find that opportunities are few and require thorough and difficult searches to locate. The search for existing opportunities is often akin to locating the sun in a storm due to poor advertisement from professors seeking workers that must be trained. Finding a research project becomes ultimately more difficult the deeper one wishes to be involved. In addition, fields vary greatly in offers for undergraduate research positions. Presentation of results from research projects in the humanities and arts are almost non-existent and the national conference gives little time to those that do exist.

Adding to the lack of research projects and outlets for dissemination of results are faculty that have little interest in creating an undergraduate workforce. Few professors or administrators are sufficiently motivated to create an undergraduate research culture at an academic institution. The creation of undergraduate opportunities in the lab is currently a prospect that professors do not look forward to, thinking that it will take more time to train a student who is, ultimately, expendable. Classes are taught passively and absolutely, with knowledge being absorbed as static truth rather than worked out with logical reasoning and critical thinking. The integration of research into the curriculum would release the knowledge from the throes of stagnation and allow it to be a dynamic conglomeration of ideas. This integration would necessitate the active involvement of students in the absorption of class materials, as it would pertain directly to their endeavors outside of class.

With the creation of a multi-disciplinary undergraduate research conference we hope to address the needs of both undergraduates and faculty. Undergraduates will be given a forum with which to discuss and promote their results and meet with faculty who have similar interests. Professors will be shown the importance of undergraduate research and will be encouraged to discuss methods for creating additional opportunities in undergraduate research.