At uIdeas we believe that : 

We believe that anyone can pursue research if they have the environment, tools, motivation, and right project to succeed. 

We care about people.

We value equity, diversity, and inclusion. 

We produce excellent scholarly research.

uIdeas Values

Inclusion

1. 1. Diversity is not enough, people should be included and have equitable access to opportunities. 

   2. People should feel safe to speak, think, and do. Researchers have the freedom and encouragement to provide feedback and receive constructive criticism. 

Wellbeing and good food

Basic human needs are needed to conduct successful research. We recommend: 

1. 2. 1. Sleep. - You may dream your answers. 

      2. Eat .

      3. Work out.

      4. Check out your mental health/Burnout levels

  Researchers are encouraged to take one day off a week. Working all the time is not healthy for the mind, or body. 

Being proud of your research

Publishing quality research can include: 

• Presenting your research online/in person

• Applying for fellowships/Grants/etc. 

science is not always free :(

• submitting papers to academic journals

Team and collaboration 

Researchers are expected to engage with, learn from, and interact with the community 

• Outside or within the uIdeas/Veritas/Star labs teams.

• Across institutions (Chapman, CICESE, UCI.)

• Internationally (United States / Mexico / China / Sweden / etc. )

• and from other disciplinary backgrounds within or outside of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science, Software Engineering, Linguistics, Electrical Engineering, Psychology, Liberal Arts and Studies, Social Science, and more. 

Ethics 

At the uIdeas lab we value education, academic contributions, and peer-reviewed work. As such, we hold our publications and projects to a very high standard, as we would to projects and studies conducted by peers, scholars, and fellow academics. 

At uIdeas:  

• Cheating and plagiarism are forbidden.

• We protect and respect our users' data and we care about their privacy

uIdeas Undergraduate Research Guidelines

Undergraduate students should expect to commit to a minimum of two semesters of work at uIdeasLab with more time preferred if able.

The approach that uIdeas follow for undergrad research is*:

Think about what interests you!

At uIdeas, we have several research projects being conducted on a rolling basis, as research interests allow. Projects are conducted in teams. Knowing what your research interests are will allow for you to be able to join a project you are passionate in! 

Projects can also be proposed for any subject not currently under investigation. 

Make a plan and do follow-ups. 

Once a project has been selected, researchers make a plan with their team and advisor to go over the state of the project (prior research done, relevant publications) as well as go over researcher expectations for project contributions, going over the project timeline, reviewing and setting milestones, and setting project goals. 

Presenting Results

As projects are conducted, researchers are encouraged to work towards professional academic opportunities like publications, conference presentations, and collaboration with professionals. As such, researchers are encouraged to present their investigation results as a means towards investigation outcome. 

This can be in the form of: 

• 1:1 meeting updates 

• investigation diagrams : thematic coding, qualitative / quantitative graphs 

• poster presentations 

• oral presentations

Monthly Lab meetings.

As a part of uIdeas values, we strive to create a community within our group as to foster genuine connection across our researchers. Aside from weekly/bi-weekly project meetings, uIdeas lab researchers and advisors meet once a month to go over project progress, celebrate project achievement,  identify areas for collaboration, and support one another. 

This may be different for Graduate students / Postdocs and external colleges *