URAD Plug and Play
URAD Plug and Play is a service provided to UNM faculty and staff. It is designed to ease the process of applying for and implementing grants that increase undergraduate research opportunities at UNM. The following modules can be incorporated into new research grant proposals, either as core activities or as broader impact activities. Each module includes key information you will need in writing your proposal(s), as well as contact information for people at UNM who are eager to assist you in your efforts.
The are several key ways you can use these modules:
- Adapt: You can adapt these models, tailoring them for your own needs. Adapted modules would then be directed and implemented by you and/or your personnel, with support from UNM partners as needed.
- Participate: Some modules allow your students to participate, without your needing to direct or implement. For these modules, you would provide funding and would participate on a steering committee. Your students would be integrated into a cohort with students from other existing programs. Participation in these programs is entirely at the discretion of their program coordinators.
- Collaborate: Some modules lend themselves well to a co-op approach. For instance, suppose your grant proposal only allows you to hire two undergraduate researchers, but you still want them to be part of a research cohort where they can receive peer mentoring, training, networking and other support. It’s likely that other faculty members are looking for the same cohort engagement. URAD and FRDO can work with those other researchers and UNM partners to create a pooled cohort of students. Using the Collaborate approach, you would share leadership with those other UNM partners, and would providing as available under your grant.
If you have any questions, please contact Tim Schroeder, URAD Director at timschroeder@unm.edu.
Additionally, if you have a course, program or other opportunity that you would like included in this list of Plug and Play modules, please contact Dr. Schroeder at the above email.
URAD Plug and Play Modules |
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Students worked with faculty mentors to communicate environmental research to the general public. The research presented could be either the student’s original research, or the research of their faculty mentor. Students selected their own communications venues (for instance, essay, podcast or video) and worked together as a cohort to develop and refine their individual projects. Projects were then presented at the UNM Undergraduate Research Opportunities Conference (UROC), and posted on two UNM websites. |
Faculty submit proposals to the National Science Foundation to create new research opportunities for undergraduate students. These proposals can be comprehensive (REU Sites) or limited (REU Supplements). Students receive mentoring, support and funding to participate on faculty research projects, or to conduct their own original individual or group-based projects. |
An ePortfolio is a digital collection of student ideas, values, experiences, and scholarly work. Through an ePortfolio, students can tell their own stories, including their world-view, personal interests and self-assessments of their professional strengths. ePortfolios can be useful in communicating this information informally to future employers, graduate schools or peers. ePortfolios also provide students a valuable opportunity to reflect upon what they have learned up to this point, and to organize this into a cohesive body of knowledge that they can more easily build upon. ePortfolios are considered a “High Impact Practice” by The American Association of Colleges and Universities. They are evidence-based, and are supported by numerous websites, manuals and other resources. |
AIntroduction to assessment metrics for non-education faculty researchers who are planning to incorporate undergraduate students into research proposal(s) within their disciplines, but who may not have extensive experience with assessing undergraduate programming. |
