Stony Brook: Integrating Research and Education

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The State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook has been selected as one of ten recipients of the National Science Foundation's Recognition Awards for the Integration of Research and Education. Stony Brook has a long-standing tradition of research collaboration between undergraduates and faculty. Due in part to an undergraduate research office, approximately 40% of the large undergraduate student body participate in research through a variety of mechanisms and programs. Undergraduate research programs for first-year women and minority students have increased retention in these traditionally underrepresented groups. Another program prepares graduate students to use research and discovery-based activities in their teaching careers. The university's tenure and promotion decisions now consider a faculty member's effectiveness in integrating research and teaching in addition to the quality of their research. Stony Brook's efforts to integrate research and education were designed with specific outcomes in mind: increasing the numbers of undergraduate students enrolling in research courses; proliferating upper-level research courses in different departments; and increasing the numbers of advanced science and engineering courses taken by female and minority students. The university has documented noteworthy success in achieving these goals. The university is being awarded $500,000 with the goal of expanding, documenting, and disseminating its exemplary practices over the coming three years. Plans for the use of the award funds include: expanding the pool of research funds for student research projects; making competitively awarded mini-grants to academic departments for development of new research methods courses or for seeding new initiatives; evaluating the impacts of programs; and publishing results.