Topics in the Context of Research: Developing Your Research Career

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

The video to the left provided by Andrew Greenberg of the University of Wisconsin – Madison addresses the topic of looking for and applying to REU programs.

This video provided by Professor Wendy Crone of the University of Wisconsin – Madison addresses the topic of obtaining an undergraduate research position at your university.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) provides a search page for finding REU opportunities.
The DAAD Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program offers students internship opportunities in Germany (with English as the working language) for the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering.
The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program places students for paid internships in science and engineering at Department of Energy facilities.
The National Undergraduate Fellowship (NUF) program provides undergraduate research opportunities in plasma science and fusion.

Research Funding

The link provided by Professor Jake Blanchard of the University of Wisconsin – Madison addresses the topic of “How Research is Funded”

Professional Networking & Communications

The video interview provided by Professor Paul Wilson of the University of Wisconsin – Madison addresses the topic of Developing a Professional Network (interviewed by Professor Wendy Crone).

The video provided by John Archambault of the University of Wisconsin – Madison discusses Professionalism in Informal Communication.

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Suggested Readings

WEB RESOURCES on “Professional Networking and Communication”

From Phil Agre, Associate Professor of Information Science at UCLA, “Networking on the Network”, a somewhat lengthy article about networking professionally via the internet

Research Ethics

The video interview provided by Professor Kristyn Masters of the University of Wisconsin – Madison addresses the topic of Research Ethics. Handouts to accompany Professor Masters’ presentation can be downloaded here.

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Suggested Readings

WEB RESOURCES on “Research Ethics”

From OnlineEthics.org, two case studies: the first case study regards an individual researcher’s behavior upon discovery of conflicting data; the second case study addresses the misrepresentation of data in a grant proposal.
From the Hale Chair in Applied Ethics Resources at the Rochester Institute of Techonology, an ethics manual entitled “Doing Good and Avoiding Evil” by Dr. Lisa Newton. Of particular interest are the pages on “Decision Procedures for Ethics”, including the (DIS)ORDER decision method used by Prof. Masters in her video.
From the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, a case study on inaccurate reporting of scientific methods; this study could also be used to discuss proper procedure in recruiting and informing human subjects.
From the Chronicle of Higher Education, an article by Jeffrey R. Young entitled “Journals Find Fakery in Many Images Submitted to Support Research” about authors falsely portraying research findings through tampering with scientific images in order to better support their assertions.