Why You Should Pursue Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Conor Quinn

I've had the unique opportunity for the last year to perform undergraduate research into issues that I truly love, an experience I couldn't more honestly recommend. When I first came to Siena, I knew little if anything about research opportunities, what it was, and why on earth anyone would want to do research in the first place. But, as im sure is true with most students, as I began to take more classes in economics and learn more about the world around me my job at a retail store held my attention less and less. Thats when I discovered the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Mandal on a research project, building a model to measure and predict academic success for high school students. Not only was this a paid position, but it allowed me to become more involved in the subject matter and work that I had grown to love. Having this experience has not only allowed me to build close relationships with faculty mentors, but is in my opinion the sole reason for my acceptance into my graduate program for policy research, providing hands on research experience. There are plenty of research opportunities on campus for both upper and lower classman in a variety of different majors and subject matter.

Team BILD (Big Issues and Leading-edge Discovery): Are you interested in completing a year-long undergraduate research experience? The primary goal of TeamBILD is to engage an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students to analyze a current issue through the lens of their respective discipline and to synthesize their research.  There will be one team this year, consisting of three faculty and three students, representing each of the three Schools at the College. The team will examine one “big” issue. This year’s issue is addiction. For more information please email: aprovencher@siena.edu

Dake Fellows: Dake Fellows combine disciplinary research with service and community-engaged project management through undergraduate capstone work or a postgraduate fellowship. Some recent projects have highlighted historical archival work, original survey creation and implementation, and participatory-action research with underserved populations. Students who are nominated and accepted will work in the spring semester to get connected to a faculty mentor and a community partner who has rigorous research needs.  For more information please email: c19quin@siena.edu