Rasmuson Fisheries Expansion
Hands-on Learning: Internships and Research
Internships:
Alaska's natural resources and vibrant fishing industry will play an essential role in our new curriculum. Students will interact directly with Alaska's fishing industry and its regulators through a required internship. While the traditional classroom setting can be limited in providing “real-world” education, UAF fisheries students will gain direct experience in the workplace and field. Learning in the workplace through internships, particularly in a subject such as fisheries, is a crucial component of an undergraduate education. These internships are an ideal way to combine classroom learning with work experience in the public and private sectors. The survey being conducted currently includes questions on the ability and willingness of the respondents to provide paid internships for our students. Additional information on internships has been solicited from the members of the Rasmuson Fisheries Excellence Committee and will be included as it is provided.
An important initial step in our implementation of the new degree program will be the establishment of an effective internship program that represents a partnership between the student, the university, and the company or agency to provide both experience and education to the students in our program. An internship is a three-way cooperative venture among an employer, the university, and a student. Participating employers gain a high quality, enthusiastic employee and a cost-effective means of recruiting and training potential employees. The students gain real-world experience and the university receives credit for instruction.
Student Research:
Hands-on research provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to enrich their educational experience and accelerate their development as young professionals. Direct experience with the practice of science goes beyond what can be offered in lecture and laboratory-based course work, and includes an opportunity to directly interact with faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and fellow undergraduates. Undergraduate research allows students to learn about the culture of academic inquiry within the context of the scientific method, and exposes students to the continuum of basic and applied science.
Employers value research because it demonstrates the ability of a student to design and complete a project that requires the development of analytical, critical thinking, and oral and written communication skills. Graduate schools view undergraduate research experiences as a head start on utilizing and honing the skills that are needed to successfully complete a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation. Undergraduate research opportunities will also provide students with the chance to present their study results at scientific conferences and publish their research in peer-reviewed journals. In some cases, students may also develop and communicate popular literature from their study results and inform user groups through extension and outreach activities and publications.
These scholarly activities not only contribute to the professional development of the student, but they also make the individual more competitive for available employment and graduate school positions. Undergraduate students frequently develop long-term professional relationships with their mentors, which enhances professional interactions, facilitates networking activities, and promotes future collaboration in research and related endeavors. In summary, providing a forum for undergraduate research enhances not only the educational environment, but also promotes the development of a learner-centered environment that is mutually beneficial for both the student and mentor.
While there are a multitude of ways in which to integrate undergraduate research into science-based curricula, one approach that has been met with much success involves engaging students across the entire curriculum. In this model, a common seminar time is established during both academic-year semesters in which all students meet each week. During the initial meeting period, an overall orientation to the undergraduate research program is provided and multiple focal research clusters (e.g., fisheries stock assessment, food-web dynamics, fish culture, etc.) are identified that are led by a research team consisting of one or more faculty members and their post-docs and graduate students. Based on the identified areas, undergraduate students choose which research cluster to participate in based on their interests. In subsequent meetings, students are subdivided into smaller break-out groups in which they participate in various weekly activities. For example, freshmen meet with research group mentors, including seniors that are completing their project, to learn about the research process and to see the end products (e.g., research poster, oral presentation, and written thesis) that are generated from the scientific studies. Freshmen are also involved in various learning activities, such as using Excel spreadsheets, data reduction approaches, and determining appropriate sample sizes.
All of these exercises are intended to give freshmen a better understanding of the research process, expectations for completing a scientific study, and final products to be generated following the completion of the research. Sophomores and juniors are also coupled together in break-out groups within individual research clusters. The primary focus of the sophomores is to learn how to identify a research question, and the juniors facilitate that process by discussing their experiences. Because juniors have already identified their research topic, their primary focus is to identify the specifics of their project, plan the necessary field, laboratory, and/or modeling activities, and initiate the study. Throughout these meetings, the research cluster mentors facilitate discussions with the sophomores and juniors and guide the process of project identification and initiation. These students would also participate in additional learning activities, such as writing a good abstract, presentation of visual data, and critiquing scientific presentations.
While seniors also play a mentoring role during meetings with underclassmen, their primary responsibilities include completing their research project, data synthesis and analysis, and producing the final products. At the end of the academic year, seniors are required to submit an undergraduate thesis that would be structured similarly to a graduate thesis (however, the scope would be narrower in focus than graduate-level research). This thesis should lend itself to be converted into a manuscript for submission to an appropriate peer-reviewed journal. The seniors will also be required to participate in two symposia (a separate poster and paper session) held on consecutive days. For the poster session (which could be held on a Friday afternoon), seniors would be required to develop a scientific poster that follows predetermined guidelines. During this session, the students will stand next to their poster and field questions from SFOS faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students as well as invited guests (e.g., natural resources agency personnel, UAF officials, etc.). The following Saturday morning, an oral paper symposium will be held in which the seniors would be required to give a fifteen-minute scientific presentation (plus five minutes for questions and answers). This session would also be attended by SFOS personnel and invited guests from the previously identified groups. For both the poster and paper symposia, the student presenters would be evaluated in terms of both presentation quality and scientific merit. The evaluations would be used to provide feedback to the students and would serve as the basis for a best student poster and best student paper award.
The ultimate end product of these shared, integrated experiences is that the undergraduate students in SFOS will understand how to (1) develop and complete a scientific research project, (2) critically analyze data and integrate the results within the context of the existing literature, and (3) present the collected information effectively in written, visual, and oral formats.
For more information about the Rasmuson Fisheries Expansion, please contact Dr. Trent Sutton, Undergraduate Fisheries Coordinator, e-mail: tsutton@sfos.uaf.edu, (907) 474-7285.
If you are a student interested in studying at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, please contact Katie Murra, Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, e-mail murra@sfos.uaf.edu or 907-474-6786.