COLUMBUS – A six-year old undergraduate research forum at The Ohio State University is continuing to broaden its scope. 

Long-time university supporters and alumni Richard and Martha Denman began sponsoring the Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum six years ago at The Ohio State University to give students a venue to showcase their research and to teach them to become “self-motivators.”

Richard Denman , a member of The Ohio State University Foundation Board of Directors, told the Board of Trustees on Friday, Oct. 5, about the “amazing quality” of student presentations at the undergraduate forum. During the meeting, the trustees also learned about Ohio State’s freshman research seminars, the characteristics of this year’s freshman class and the opening of classes. 

Throughout the years, the undergraduate research forum has attracted the best and brightest undergraduate students at Ohio State. The forum, designed as a central university showcase for undergraduate research, has grown from about 70 student participants in its first year to more than 150 undergraduates last year.

Keith Alley, senior associate vice president for research, that the best undergraduate research projects in the Denman Research Forum were published in the inaugural edition of Ohio State’s Journal of Undergraduate Research Scholarship.  The journal, designed and managed by a student editorial board with support from faculty members, soon will be available on Ohio State’s Web site.

The Journal of Undergraduate Research Scholarship has three main objectives that coincide with Ohio State’s Academic Plan, Alley said.  Its goal is to encourage undergraduate students to take part in future research projects; to provide Web-based documentation of the students’ projects; and to promote the university’s efforts to encourage undergraduate research.

“Originally, we wanted to get students interested in the questions of research,” Alley said.  “Now we are starting to build other things around the undergraduate research forum.”

The freshman research seminar is another undergraduate initiative that complements the university’s Denman Research Forum and its Academic Plan, said Kay Halasek, associate provost and director of the University Honors and Scholars. 

Halasek said the 12 freshman research seminars, set to begin in winter and spring quarters, are inquiry-based models of learning for honors and scholars students that connect with the daily lives of the students and the community.  In the past, undergraduate students were not offered this experience until their latter years at the university.  By introducing the students to research at the start of their college career, Halasek said, “the seminars will fundamentally change the students’ experiences in every other class.”  

            Among the 12 research seminar topics are the Life and Times: Levels of Analysis and Social Behavior in Daily Life; an Introduction to Research in Behavioral Neuroscience and Health Psychology; and Global Climate and Environmental Change: Individuals Matter.  Halasek said the experience students gain from these seminars would better prepare them for any avenue they pursue in the future.   

            During their meeting, the trustees also learned about highlights from this year’s Welcome Week and the freshman class characteristics.  Richard Hollingsworth, associate vice president for student affairs, said more than 4,000 students arrived on campus during Welcome Week’s Residence Hall Move-In Day and were assisted by 1,300 student Opening Welcome Leaders and 530 staff members.  At this year’s convocation, about 5,000 students were officially welcomed to the university, and between 13,000 and 15,000 attended the Student Involvement Fair, which represented 400 student organizations.  On the day before classes began, about 1,100 students volunteered at 65 local agencies as a part of Ohio State’s Community Commitment Day, which is believed to be the largest service-project on a college campus.

            Martha Garland, vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, told the trustees that this year’s freshman class is the brightest and most diverse class in the university’s history. For the sixth consecutive year, Ohio State’s freshman class ranks higher in terms of school performance, test scores and other indicators of academic quality.  Among the highlights are a greater percentage of incoming freshmen who are National Merit Scholars, more who are class valedictorians, more in the top 10 percent of their high school class and a higher than-ever average ACT score.  

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