Get Involved with IDEA

These forums take place once a semester. You will learn about the various opportunities for research and creative expression from our panel of guest presenters, hear about student research experiences, and get to meet with heads of research from colleges across campus. You can see when the next one is coming up on our Events Page.

Once you've come to our forum, you will be added to our Canvas site and will get information on completing the IDEA online research modules. These short online modules serve as a primer for research and creative projects, and are designed to familiarize you with the broad scope of research in general. Completing these modules is the first prerequisite to register for RES 3399. 

Once you've completed the modules, you'll be ready for the IDEA Center's research ethics workshop. This in-person, interactive workshop will cover a variety of topics including conflicts of interest, avoiding plagiarism, ethical treatment of human and animal subjects, peer review, data acquisition, research misconduct, responsible authorship, and publication. Attending this workshop is the second prerequisite to register for RES 3399. 

RES 3399 Research and Creative Expression provides an interdisciplinary overview of research, inquiry, and creative expression. In this class, you will learn first-hand about research ethics and research processes including data collection and analysis. You'll also develop a research/creative question that you could explore through a project with a faculty mentor in your major. This course is a prerequisite for RES 4399. 

RES 4399 Mentored Research and Creative Expression provides students with a mentored research/creative experience. In this class, you will either contribute to a faculty member's research/creative experience or engage in an independent project under the supervision of a faculty member. 

The final step in the process is to share your work at our annual Research, Inquiry, and Creative Expression (RICE) Showcase.  You and other undergraduate scholars will present your work at a poster session open to the public where you can discuss your work with students and faculty from all disciplines. Once you complete this final step, you will have earned the designation Bobcat IDEA Research/Creative Expression Scholar.