Category Archives: Research opportunities

Research opportunities offered to the Illinois campus by the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Program and the Scholarly Commons including: Undergraduate Research Certificate, Research Travel Support Competition, Summer Undergraduate Research, and the Image of Research Competition – UR Edition.

Emblematica Online: New Portal Functionality and Undergraduate Researchers

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The Scholarly Commons’ Explorations in Digital Humanities Workshop “Emblematica Online: New Portal Functionality and Undergraduate Researchers ” will be held Thursday November 20th at 4:00 in room 308 of the Main Library.

This presentation focuses on the digital resource Emblematica Online, a project funded first by the NEH and DFG Bilateral Digital Humanities Initiative and now by NEH.  Emblematica Online currently makes 1,388 digital facsimiles and ~22,000 individual emblems from these rare Renaissance books at the University of Illinois Library and the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, Glasgow University, Utrecht University, Getty Research Institute Library, and Duke University Library, available for searching and browsing at various levels of granularity.

The presenters will provide a brief history and description of the project, discuss their model of undergraduate research for the project and demonstrate sample searches within the OpenEmblem Portal and across international projects which employ Iconlcass metadata indexing. The presentation will last ca. 40 minutes.

The researchers for Emblematica Online are:

Mara Wade, PI;  Timothy W. Cole, Myung-Ja K. Han, and Harriett Green, co-PIs

Tom Kilton, Senior Consultant; Janina Sarol, Patricia Lampron, Librarians

Student researchers: Johannes Fröhlich (RA)

Patricia Fleming, Heidi Heim, Melina Nunez, Undergraduate Emblem Scholars

Associated online publications include:

Timothy W. Cole, Myung-Ja K. Han, Jordan Vannoy, “Descriptive Metadata, Iconclass, and Digitized Emblem Literature,”  JCDL ’12 Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, New York: ACM, 2012, 111-120. http://dl.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=2232839&ftid=1226090&dwn=1&CFID=589338266&CFTOKEN=46188955

Digital Collections and the Management of Knowledge: Renaissance Emblem Literature as a Case Study for the Digitization of Rare Texts and Images, ed. Mara R. Wade. Salzburg: DigiCULT, 2004. http://www.digicult.info/downloads/dc_emblemsbook_highres.pdf

Emblem Digitization: Conducting Digital Research with Renaissance Texts and Images ed. Mara R. Wade.  2012. (= Early Modern Literary Studies, Special Issue 20)

http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/emlshome.html

Digitization for Research and Scholarly Communication, 4 May 2014

http://iprh.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/digitization-for-research-and-scholarly-communication/

 

American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellowships for Undergraduates

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The American Educational Research Association (AERA) invites fellowship applications for an Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Workshop to be held Thursday, April 16 – Saturday, April 18, 2015 during the 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago. This workshop is designed to build the talent pool of undergraduate students who plan to pursue doctorate degrees in education research or in disciplines and fields that examine education issues. Applicants are sought who have potential and interest in pursuing careers as education researchers, faculty members, or other professionals who contribute to the research field.The workshop, led by junior and senior scholars, will give fellows on overview of how education research is designed across fields, how quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in studies, and how research is applied to education policy and practice. Senior researchers and faculty from both academic institutions and applied research organization (i.e., The American Institutes for Research, Educational Testing Service, the College Board, and the Urban Institute) will introduce education research as a field and share their area of expertise and knowledge with the fellows. Workshop activities will also focus on exploring graduate education, applying to graduate school, and beginning a career in education research. Fellows will be paired with a faculty member and a graduate student who will serve as program mentors. In addition to attending the workshop, fellows will attend pre-selected paper sessions and presentations during the AERA Annual Meeting.
Dates: The Workshop activities will take place Thursday. April 16-Saturday, April 18, 2015 during the 2015 AERA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.
Award: Fellows will participate in the Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Workshop during the AERA 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago.They will also have the benefit of a distinguished mentor as part of the award. The award includes conference registration and two nights of lodging. The fellows and/or their home institutions are responsible for transportation costs to Chicago.
Eligibility: Candidates may come from a broad range of fields across the arts and sciences. Underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities and women are encouraged to apply. Candidates must be:
  • Students in their sophomore, junior, or senior year of college in good academic standing.
  • Interested in pursuing a graduate or professional degree that can lend itself to education research areas such as children and youth, school and schooling issues, higher education, education policy, student achievement, curriculum and instruction, education psychology, or education leadership.
  • U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Visit the AERA Funding Opportunities website for the complete workshop description and application form. Direct all questions to George L. Wimberly, Director of Social Justice and Professional Development, at 202-238-3200 or fellowships@aera.net.

 

The Benefits of Publishing as an Undergraduate

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Writing an article and going through the peer review and editing processes can be difficult and time-consuming. Students may wonder if the end result is worth adding the extra commitment to their schedules. However, having an article published as an undergraduate has a wide variety of benefits and can present new opportunities to students involved in the publication process. Here are a few of the reasons to consider publishing as an undergraduate:

1. To help improve writing and research skills.

The process of researching, writing, editing, and publishing an article for the first time will provide valuable feedback on what steps may require improvement and where strengths may be. Going through these steps will improve writing and research skills that will be useful in graduate studies or a professional career.

2. To experience the scholarly publication process.

Publication is a requirement in many disciplines. Going through the process as an undergraduate will make the experience familiar when it may be required later. It will also provide context and understanding of the field.

3. To connect with professors and researchers.

Faculty in the department the journal is connected to will likely be involved in the publication or post-publication process. Publishing in the journal will help connect students to those faculty members in a way that isn’t often achieved in the typical classroom setting. Publishing may also help students connect with other professionals and researchers in the field, providing new opportunities for collaboration and future study.

4. To display leadership and initiative.

Working as part of the editorial team or being involved in the publication process is hard work. Faculty, employers, and graduate school admissions committee members will understand this and recognize pursuing this endeavor as an example of leadership and drive.

5. To professionalize the undergraduate experience.

Having a published paper will provide a certain level of professionalization to a resume that many undergraduates do not have. It will signal to graduate school committees and employers that steps were taken to seriously pursue research interests. Published paper may also be useful as a writing sample in graduate school applications.

6. To inform a future career path.

The process of publishing a paper may help inform a future career path and illuminate opportunities that may otherwise have not been considered. It may pique a student’s interest in pursuing publishing or graduate studies as the next step after completion of an undergraduate degree. Alternatively, it may confirm to other students that they wish to pursue other interests outside of academia. Working with faculty and other student researchers will allow students to enter a scholarly community that may help them decide on a future career path. Either way, the process will be valuable in assisting students in deciding what the next step will be.