18 4 / 2011
Apply for Fall 2011 PURA Today!
Apply for the Presidential Undergraduate Research Award (PURA) at Georgia Tech today! Submissions for Fall 2011 are due May 20, 2011 at this link.
A list of things to include in your proposal is included below, courtesy of UROP. Remember that you are writing to an audience that is not necessarily an expert in your field. Please be sure to write so that a well-informed student or faculty member can understand your proposal without looking up more information.
Things to include in proposal:
- Overview of proposed work (proposals should be no more than 2 pages long)
- Objective and goals for the semester
- Related work and any background you know about project
- Methods and techniques to be used, software to be used or developed, types of media or resources to be used
- How any past research in the same area that you participated in relates to this work
- Location of work if not at Georgia Tech
- Name of any co-mentor who is a graduate student or post-doc
- If the project is within an undergraduate team setting describe your individual role and how it relates to the project as a whole
Best of luck with your application!
Michael Chen
Editor-in-Chief
The Tower Undergraduate Research Journal
25 3 / 2011
Pecha kuchas are good for science
Ever heard of a pecha kucha? It’s a Japanese-style presentation format, where the presenter must have his or her powerpoint set to 20 slides, timed to 20 seconds each slide. Moreover, each slide can only contain an image without any added text.
So, why is this good for science? A big problem with research in general these days is that researchers do not know how to deliver audience appropriate content. A pecha kucha introduces time and content constraints that prevent the researcher from going too technical. Just like you should opt to explain the orbit of an electron to a five-year-old in terms of the solar system rather than in terms of quantum mechanics, a pecha kucha helps researchers cut down on the field-specific jargon and leave the necessary ideas to convey a topic to a broad audience.
The Tower will be hosting a science pecha kucha open to all majors on April 11th at the Library East Commons. Food will be provided! Submit your abstract (<300 words) to http://gttower.org/urk/ to be considered by April 8th! All presentations must strictly follow pecha kucha rules.
Michael Chen
Editor-in-Chief
The Tower Undergraduate Research Journal
23 3 / 2011
How do I find a research opportunity?
Everyone says undergraduate research is a good thing to have, but how do you go about finding a position? I have one strategy for you: don’t be shy. Believe it or not, most professors are looking for students brave enough to approach them! The secret is that professors want to find students who have the motivation to seek out research topics and approach professors on their own free time. Unfortunately, Georgia Tech does not have a central database listing all the research positions available. The bottom line? The next time you see a professor conducting research in an area that interests you, send him or her an e-mail with a resume attached saying you would like to try out their lab!
Wondering where a good place to start might be? Try out your school’s faculty website or even the professors that teach your classes! Georgia Tech has HUNDREDS of faculty—if you want a research position there’s one out there waiting for you.
Michael Chen
Editor-in-Chief
The Tower Undergraduate Research Journal
22 3 / 2011
Why you should submit to The Tower
What does undergraduate research mean to you? Undergraduate research should not just be another line on a résumé or another source of income, rather it should give undergraduates experience in experimental-based learning and an in-depth preview of academic research. Becoming involved in undergraduate research clears uncertainties about what you would like to pursue after college—something that I have discovered from personal experience. If you currently research, I encourage you to participate in research conferences to further explore the world of research to determine, or at least narrow down, your possible career directions.
Fortunately, there are many outlets for you to use here at Tech to become well-versed in the world of research. These outlets include the many research conferences, such as Georgia Tech’s Annual Undergraduate Spring Symposium, that go on throughout the year in metro-Atlanta. While presenting posters and oral presentations are important, the students who advance by writing articles about their research truly epitomize the ideals of an undergraduate researcher.
Research articles solidify laboratory knowledge and thus are an indispensable part of an undergraduate researcher’s experience. Writing a concise research article demonstrates a researcher’s thorough understanding of the scientific method—the foundation of all academic research—and how the scientific method is used to discover the secrets of the universe.
The Tower, Georgia Tech’s Undergraduate Research Journal, is a publication peer-reviewed by graduate and undergraduate students. Submitting a research article to The Tower and going through our two-stage review process simulates the peer-review process of academic journals, giving our authors and staff a taste of the publication process in industry and academia.
The Tower accepts four different types of submissions from undergraduate researchers:
- Article — the culmination point of an undergraduate research project; the author addresses a clearly defined research problem
- Dispatch — reports recent progress on a research challenge; narrower in scope
- Perspective — provides personal viewpoints and invites further discussions through literature synthesis and/or logical analysis
- Synopsis articles— brief overview of a published paper of which the undergraduate author is a co-author of the original paper; should highlight the parts the undergraduate researcher focused on
Even if you are in the preliminary stages of data collection, we would nonetheless love to hear about your research goals through a dispatch. If you would like to provide a discussion of previously published articles or provide a review of your field, we invite you to submit a perspective. We also encourage administration, faculty, and graduate students to submit pieces on topics related to undergraduate research, such as their experiences with undergraduate students.
Whatever field your research is in, you have something to contribute to The Tower. Contributing to The Tower not only helps you communicate phenomena, but also allows you to discover if a research career is in your future, whether that be in industry or academia. Keep in mind that the common complaint among employers and graduate/professional school admissions directors is that students who participate in undergraduate research cannot articulate their research well in interviews. By submitting to The Tower, you will demonstrate understanding in your field of study and practice communicating your research to a wide variety of audiences.
We encourage you to read our online journal and visit our website at gttower.org. You can find copies of the current print journal in the Student Center, the library, IBB, ES&T, the CHEM Annex, and all metro-Atlanta GTRI facilities. We are also continuously looking for people to join our staff to assist in production, review, and marketing. If you are interested, visit our website at http://gttower.org/.
Michael Chen
Editor-in-Chief
The Tower Undergraduate Research Journal
