The University of Colorado at Â鶹¹ÙÍøÂ’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and the Residential Academic Program in Baker Hall are facilitating extensive undergraduate participation in faculty research.
The Baker Hall Academic Program is designed for incoming CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø freshmen and sophomores who plan to focus on natural sciences and environmental studies with a strong research orientation. The program offers small classes and provides students with numerous research opportunities working alongside some of CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍøÂ’s top faculty researchers.
The Baker Hall program has 310 participants this fall, said Russell Monson, a professor in the environmental, population and organismic biology department. Monson, director of the Baker Hall Program, said the program was designed to "encourage freshmen and sophomores who would not otherwise be exposed to research opportunities to get connected with some of the cutting-edge research projects taking place right here on our campus.
"We want Baker to gain the reputation as a place to make connections in research and to take advantage of the research prestige of the university," he said.
Part of the research atmosphere at Baker Hall has come from the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, one of several programs overseen by UROP.
Now in its fourth year, SURE annually involves motivated freshmen in research-intensive projects. The top applicants of the incoming freshman class – those with a grade-point average of 3.75 or higher and a combined SAT score of at least 1350 – are invited to apply for the program, which includes a month of summer research before fall classes begin.
In summer 2000, only 30 of 120 applicants were accepted into the SURE Program. They worked with faculty members on a variety of research projects in fields including aerospace engineering, astrophysics, physics, chemistry, human rights, business, EPO biology and molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. More than 50 percent of first-year SURE students continued research-related work-study jobs after their initial introduction into the summer portion of the program.
"Research is the cutting edge of knowledge, and these students are very bright and want to get hands-on experience early in their college careers," said Tom Davinroy, research assistant and director of the SURE Program. "We are glad that we can make this opportunity available to them here at CU."
During the fall semester, SURE students have the option to continue with the research they began during the summer program or to explore other research topics.
To further encourage the establishment of a student research community, SURE students, as well as those who applied to the program but were not accepted, were encouraged to live in Baker Hall this fall. Ongoing research advising in Baker is available to all students.
This year, Monson and Davinroy are taking steps to integrate the SURE and Baker Hall programs as much as possible, bringing an even more research-intensive atmosphere to the Baker Hall program. In addition, Monson said the combination of the two programs will "allow social connections established during the SURE summer program to remain intact for the duration of the school year."
UROP, the umbrella program for the SURE and Baker Hall programs, has awarded more than $3 million to nearly 4,000 undergraduates since its inception in 1986.
"The Baker Hall program allows freshman students to experience the benefits of a small college atmosphere in their first year at a large university, fostering an academic and social atmosphere that will ensure success," Monson said.