Enterprising students put spotlight on undergraduate research

Unlike graduate students and professionals who have numerous opportunities to publish their research, undergraduates often find their hard work ending up on the desk of a single professor or collecting dust on the bookshelf.

“[Undergraduates] can’t really see other undergraduates doing research unless they’re sitting in a lab or they hear about it from a professor,” says Robert Beets, news editor of the new Wisconsin Undergraduate Journal of Science (WISCI). “Word of mouth has historically been the only way to hear about good undergraduate research.”

Expect that to change this month with WISCI’s release. WISCI is a student-run, peer-reviewed journal that will publish undergraduate research. WISCI joins “Illumination,” the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s undergraduate journal of the humanities, in helping to provide visibility to undergraduate research.

“Illumination,” which released its first issue in Spring 2005, provides the humanities community with peer-reviewed undergraduate research. WISCI plans to do the same, publishing high-quality student material, for the scientific community. The first issue of WISCI will be available in classrooms and in PDF format online in late March.

“Students who have been published by ‘Illumination’ are extremely grateful for the opportunity to be seen by their peers,” says founder Adam Blackbourn. “On the individual level, it is a way for the writer or artist to grow with their work. On the larger level, I thought that the university had an amazing intellectual and creative atmosphere and wanted to create something that captured it.”

WISCI, the brainchild of Mustafa Hyder, a former honors student in medical microbiology, is currently funded through the Letters and Science Honors Program’s 2005-06 Leadership Trust Award and supported by biochemistry professor Dave Nelson. The inaugural issue of WISCI will contain 48 pages of research, local and national science news, and other features.

“[Undergraduate journals] fill a space that hasn’t been occupied before,” says Gabriel Morris, founding editor of Columbia University’s undergraduate journal, who helped advise the UW–Madison team.

“From the professor’s standpoint, you get to see your student’s work come to fruition and actually go through all the steps,” Beets says. “We felt that [undergraduate journals] were an important part of undergraduate research. Undergraduates might have a lot more incentives to do research and also get familiar with publishing.”

Undergraduates operate WISCI, but their tactics are highly professional. Ten students sit on the WISCI’s executive board, with about 40 more students in editorial, graphics, news, features, public relations, business, review and technology roles. The students’ academic disciplines range from mathematics, physics, chemistry and molecular biology to environmental studies, sociology, psychology and zoology. Submissions to the journal are subject to strict guidelines and peer review.

“From an academic standpoint, without the review there’s no reason to say you’re published,” says Morris. “The peer review is the hallmark of professional journals.”

While it will be important to be portrayed as a professional journal, it is also important for WISCI to retain the uniqueness and individuality generally inherent in an undergraduate organization.

“The dynamic element of student journals is what gives them their freshness and excitement,” Blackbourn adds. “In a student body that fluctuates wildly from year to year, you would imagine that the journals would also wildly fluctuate. You have to let the journal take on a life of its own.”

Luckily, “Illumination” and WISCI have seen positive fluctuations so far. “Illumination” has seen more than 1,000 submissions for its first two issues and WISCI has tripled its staff. WISCI and “Illumination” hope more fluctuations are in the near future as they look to increase opportunities for undergraduates.

“Illumination,” also available online, hosted its first poetry reading and has recently partnered with the Wisconsin Union Directorate, creating a new student committee named the Publication Committee. WISCI also wants to expand into programming by offering writing seminars for drafting proposals in addition to helping students find research positions, fellowships and scholarships.