Research
Honors Research Practicum
Sometimes faculty grants can pay for undergraduates to assist with research. The Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates can help you learn about such opportunities. It also can help faculty mentors and students apply for Iowa or national grants to finance student research. In many cases, though, academic credit is a better way to support student inquiries with faculty mentors. Enter the Honors Research Practicum. Its credit for student-faculty collaborations counts toward Honors Commendations.
Many of these collaborations spring from courses where a student finds a professor’s teaching especially intriguing because it springs from some of that faculty member’s ongoing research. When you know a professor or two or three with whom you might want to do research work, feel encouraged to approach each directly about your interest. The Honors Professional Staff can help you and a professor arrange to credit your research contributions appropriately.
If you might want to help conduct research but know only in general terms about a topic or two that might engage you, ICRU or a departmental honors advisor can identify faculty who might prove interested in working with you. They can even assist you in contacting those scholars.
Honors encourages participants in the Honors Research Practicum to share their learning. The faculty mentor is sometimes able to arrange publication of the resulting scholarship. ICRU can sometimes provide financial support for student researchers to travel to professional meetings for presenting their work prior to the publication stage. ICRU also joins individual colleges and departments in staging research forums for poster presentations on current inquiries.