Headline: WE’RE NOT POSTING THIS ONE, TJ!

By Jess Hodge

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Susan Mendoza spoke to the Grand Valley State University student senate about undergraduate research and funding for it during the meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Mendoza, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS) at GVSU, talked to the senators about what undergraduate research is, what is means to GVSU and logistics of funding in the year 2015.

Mendoza spoke about what makes the university’s undergraduate research program different from any other, saying that it is a Master 1 institution. 

“You have one-on-one contact with tenure and tenure-track faculty,” she explained. “It’s unlike any of your colleagues that go to research 1 (institutions.)”

There are four areas that make the difference between a Masters 1 and a Research 1 institution: rigor, relationship, relevance and resources.

One of the resources that Mendoza cites is OURS.

“What we do, essentially, is we support undergraduate research,” she said. “(Support) through scholar programs, travel and supply grants, faculty-mentor support and scholar celebration.”

She also talked about the Academic Conference Fund (ACF), which was created in 2008 by a student senator who was interested in “providing support for students to travel when they were doing their own academic work and they wanted to present it.” ACF used to support both graduate and undergraduate students through OURS, but they split last year. The graduate school now handles applications for graduate students while OURS continues to work with undergraduate students.

In 2015, 74 percent of the funding went to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Twelve percent of the funding went to the College of Education, 5 percent to the College of Business and 4 percent to the College of Health Professions. The remaining 5 percent was split between four schools, with 2 percent going to the College of Interdisciplinary Studies and 1 percent going to the College of Engineering and Computing, College of Nursing and the College of Community and Public Service.

Senator Jewel Haji expressed her worry that the percentage is so low for some schools because they perhaps may not be aware of the opportunity.

“I’m a senior, and I’ve never been made aware in my program specifically,” she said. “I feel like the percentage may be so high for liberal arts because they are made aware so early on of the opportunity itself.”

Mendoza explained that level of awareness could be part of it, but it is not the only factor.

“I also think that in some of the other disciplines, doing independent research doesn’t always happen there,” she added. “They tend to focus more on internships. Although that is something you could always go and do a presentation for, that doesn’t always happen.”

In fiscal year 2015, there has been $52,877.74 awarded for undergraduate research to 115 students. The maximum amount of funding they can receive is $500, unless they go overseas and then the maximum is $750. Mendoza said most students receive anywhere from $440-$480. The average amount awarded in 2015 was $460. She also said they support about 100-150 students.

Since OURS offered their first grant in January of 2009, including to-date awards and fiscal year 2016, there will have been a total of $374,220.62 awarded to 936 students. Mendoza estimates that by January, OURS will have funded over 1,000 students to travel and will have given out more than $400,000.