Web-based guide to research for undergraduates

CHED 46

Patricia A. Mabrouk, p.mabrouk@neu.edu1, Ryan McIntyre, mcintyre.r@neu.edu2, and Milena A. Virrankoski, virrankoski.m@neu.edu1. (1) Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, (2) EdTech Center, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115
The Web-Guide to research for undergraduates (WebGURU: www.webguru.neu.edu) has been developed to facilitate faculty mentoring of undergraduates participating in undergraduate research (UR) experiences. WebGURU, which officially debuted on Oct. 15, 2005, is the product of an NSF-DUE EMD award. The website consists of four main elements: information on all aspects of the research experience, a discussion board, a search engine, powered by Google, and fully-searchable program listings for UR opportunities, undergraduate research fellowships and grants, and opportunities for publication and presentation of UR research findings. The website design was optimized based on a summer 2005 pilot study of UR students participating at a number of REU programs across the U.S. this past summer. In this presentation, findings from the summer 2005 pilot study will be presented and WebGURU and its functions will be demonstrated.