Nothing more effectively demonstrates the value of the Federally funded undergraduate research programs than the words and stories of the students that have participated in these programs. In order to share the experiences of the students with members of Congress, the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) hosted an undergraduate poster session on Capitol Hill on 10 April 1997. This event gave members of Congress the chance to observe the impact of undergraduate research programs by talking directly with the students involved in the various programs supported by the government, including the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
I was selected to be one of the students presenting my research in the poster session as a result of my involvement in the REU program at Kitt Peak National Observatory. I took my poster and a list of my Congresspeople from Illinois with me to Capitol Hill. My poster, titled "Dating the Surface of Ganymede using Images from the Galileo Spacecraft" and the result of work over the 1996 summer at NOAO with Mike Belton and Elizabeth Alvarez del Castillo, was one of forty different projects from almost as many different disciplines presented during the poster session. It drew considerable attention due to the Europa press conference the day before the poster session.
It was a very good event in a number of ways. I know that my understanding of the way in which government functions was elevated and I have new respect for the process. Even though it is difficult to gauge what kind of influence our event had on the way in which our Congresspeople will vote, I believe that we made a positive impact in ensuring that Members of Congress understand the importance of undergraduate research to the undergraduates involved, the education programs of academic institutions, and the Nation. I am very glad that I was able to participate and would like to thank both the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois for sponsoring my trip.
In addition to our presence in Washington at this time prior to science funding decisions, we also left behind a document that might serve to keep undergraduate research experience on the front burner. Below is the statement that the fifty-eight students signed and left with all the people that we visited.
Ross Beyer, 1996 Summer Research Assistant in the
Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program at KPNO
We, the undersigned college and university undergraduate students, have come to Washington from across the United States to ask Members of Congress and the White House to continue to invest in this Nation's future. In the new millennium, our economic competitiveness, medical health, national security and quality of life will depend on how wisely we invest today in research and in those who will replace the current generation of scientists. Just as craftsmen have for centuries passed along their skills and knowledge to apprentices who worked by their sides, we ask that this Nation provide its science students with this important hands-on training to ensure that today's scientists pass along their laboratory and analytic skills to those who will follow in their footsteps.
The National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates, the Department of Energy's University and Science Education program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Space Grant program are some examples of federal initiatives that provide these important hands-on learning opportunities both on our campuses and at our national laboratories. Each of us is convinced that because our undergraduate research experience has helped us better learn how to pose questions, gather data and make reasoned judgments, and to use sophisticated technologies in coming to answer questions of national interest, we will be better able to contribute to the work force and as citizens in the next century.
On behalf of all students, we encourage Members of Congress and the White House to continue, and where possible, to increase the funding for programs that provide undergraduate research opportunities so that more students can have the kind of valuable education experience we have received.