What is Undergraduate Research? Undergraduate Research: A
Definition The Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR) and the
National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) are
longstanding leaders in promoting undergraduate research. In
2005, they jointly endorsed the following statement on
undergraduate research: Its central premise is the formation of
a collaborative enterprise between student and faculty member-
most often one mentor and one burgeoning scholar but sometimes
(particularly in the social and natural sciences) a team of
either or both. This collaboration triggers a four-step learning
process... 1. the identification of and acquisition of a
disciplinary or interdisciplinary methodology 2. the setting out
of a concrete investigative problem 3. the carrying out of the
actual project 4. finally, the dispersing/sharing of a new
scholar's discoveries with his or her peers- a step
traditionally missing in most undergraduate educational
programs. (NCUR) Essentially, undergraduate research involves