In mentor directed research, the ideas will be generated by your mentor and carried out by you. You will need to employ day-to-day critical thinking skills in your research, but major problems will be resolved by your mentor. In contrast, during independent research, you will think of your own research question and plan. Of course, you will discuss your research plan with your mentor and you can also discuss problems with your mentor as they arise. However, you will likely feel great enough ownership over your project to solve minor problems as they arise.
Approximately 20-30 students.
Credit hours will be distributed per university guidelines. The workshop portions of the class — ESS 220 and ESS 221 — are 1 credit per semester. Additional research credits are gained through the completion of 67 hours of work for 3 credits in ESS 298 Research. Please see the Registration details tab for more information.
In the first semester, you will attend weekly workshops over the course of the semester via ESS 220. Out of class you will be assigned key readings and begin defining your research project’s research questions and objectives.
In the second semester we will continue weekly workshops via ESS 221 that will guide you in preparation of three communication pieces: a Research Report, a poster that will be presented formally at CURC, and a public communication piece. You will also carry out your research project with your mentor. Three credits of research requires a minimum of 67 hours of work on your project (research activities over and above work on ESS 221 class deliverables).
Please see the Program Details tab for more information.
Please see the “Our Student Researchers” page to get a feel for the very diverse research that our students have engaged in! The projects are different every year and depend on mentors volunteering to mentor undergraduate researchers.
Yes! The SUPER Program is a program because of the series of components that together provide you with the skills to become a skilled researcher. If you want to develop your own research or keep working on your mentor’s project after the second semester (spring), you may talk with your mentor about additional opportunities. If you and your mentor continue to have common interests and they have the capacity to continue mentoring you, you may be able to stay on as an undergraduate researcher through your time at CSU. You can also explore different ecological research questions with additional mentors. SUPER is highly recognized as a program that builds highly desired and fundamental skills that students need to join research lab groups, start graduate school, or get research-related jobs either at CSU or following graduation. These foundational skills are also desirable for non-research jobs!