Civic Engagement at Scholars
Undergraduate Research
Three types of Discovery research courses are offered to sophomores in College Park Scholars. Discovery offers students a unique opportunity to explore new worlds of special interest. Traditional Discovery, Community-Based Discovery, and the Library of Congress Discovery courses give students the time, the encouragement, and the methodological training to begin to answer a question of interest. Students in Traditional Discovery and Library of Congress Discovery will answer a research question which you yourself personally select. In the Community-Based Discovery course, students develop their research question in collaboration with a community site based on an area of need within that particular community. You will be taught how to engage in the process of research which is the essence of knowledge creation in society and at the university.
Research is a personal journey of exploration. You will experience this journey as a beginning researcher with your peers due to the researcher community that is formed in each class with your Scholars classmates. You will use one or more of five primary research methods to collect your data. A key facet of this journey is reflection. You will be asked to step back regularly from the work of answering your selected question in order to think about the process that you are experiencing. Researchers engage in this same process throughout the university -- and society.
Your communication skills will also be enhanced as a result of your involvement in a Discovery course. Communication is an integral part of all research, on an intra- and inter-personal level. Your communication skills will be enhanced on an intra-personal level due to how precisely and deeply you will think about your question and its meanings. On an inter-personal level, your communication skills will be enhanced as you learn to collect data and communicate your findings as a result of engaging with your data, whether these data are people or materials. Finally, you will share the findings of your study with others so they can become a part of the research process itself and share in the creation of this new knowledge.
This type of primary research can be done within one of four frameworks that you select:
1) a social scientific or humanities research question which you create,
2) a campus or off-campus laboratory where you'll work on a specific question that is part of a larger, funded research program,
3) community-based research where you will become a partner with a local community group and work to provide actionable research to meet their needs, or
4) through a new Discovery framework offered in conjunction with the wealth of resources in the Library of Congress in Washington , D.C. since the Spring 2006 semester.
Discovery Projects give you the time, the means, the encouragement, and the reward of finding new information and contributing to our shared knowledge.
Traditional Discovery Research
Community-Based Discovery Research
Special Discovery Option at the Library of Congress
Also of note, the KAUST Discovery Scholarship is the general scholarship program of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. The program is designed for highly talented students from around the world who are qualified and eligible to enroll in KAUST for full Master degrees. Those who receive the scholarship will receive full tuition support, a living stipend, and summer and career enrichment programs. The fields of study will be science, engineering and technology. The web site for this information is http://www.kaust.edu.sa/students/discovery-scholarships.aspx
For more information about the Discovery research program in College Park Scholars, please contact Patty Alvarez by phone at 301-314-2777, or by e-mail at palvarez@umd.edu.
