Fall 2022 FRI Poster Session

Thursday, December 1st

3:30-5:30 p.m.

Mandela Room, Old Union Hall & UU 111

Welcome to the First-year Research Immersion (FRI) Fall 2022 poster session! FRI is a three-course sequence of CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experience) in STEM disciplines which provides first-year students with an authentic research experience.

Working alongside faculty and fellow students on cutting-edge research projects, participants tackle weighty world issues, build powerful relationships, and set a course for college and career success.

Currently, FRI has ten research streams with six in life sciences and four additional streams in physical science and engineering disciplines. Each stream is led by a research educator and has a team of 3-5 faculty stream collaborators, undergraduate peer mentors, and a dedicated laboratory space with research grade equipment.

The first semester research methods course has the following key elements: introduction to process of identifying interesting problems; reading scientific literature to determine what is known and unknown; analyzing data; reporting findings using professional standards of communication; working collaboratively.

In the second semester course, students delve into the research theme of their stream and learn how to use the equipment and protocols of that research stream, such that they write a research proposal and begin a research project.

In the third semester course, students continue their research project and complete the program with a research report and poster.

After FRI, a significant portion of students have continued as FRI undergraduate peer mentors. Also, many of students have continued research with faculty. To date, student teams have presented their research at regional, national, and international conferences and in peer-reviewed publications.