HomeBlogUndergraduate Research Paths of Inquiry: Course-based Undergraduate Research for First-year Studentsby Jessie Moore and Nolan SchultheisJanuary 5, 2026 Share: Section NavigationSkip section navigationIn this sectionPodcasts – Home 60-Second SoTL Limed: Teaching with a Twist Making College “Worth It” Special Series First-Year Seminars Land Acknowledgement Making College “Worth it” – Season 3, Episode 4 In this episode, we explore a first-year course that provides a foundation to inspire and foster undergraduate research. We speak with Dr. Cynthia Fair, a Professor of Public Health Studies and Human Service Studies at Elon University, and Dr. Dave Gammon, a Professor of Biology at Elon University. Together, they describe a course that scaffolds research, starting with asking effective questions, and sets up an engaging four-year research experience. View a transcript of this episode. Meet our Guests Cindy Fair, LCSW, DrPH, is a professor in the Department of Public Health at Elon University, where she holds the endowed Watts-Thompson Professorship. At Elon, Dr. Fair is deeply committed to integrating research, clinical insight, and engaged learning into her courses. Dr. Fair’s research primarily focuses on adolescents and young adults living with chronic health conditions, especially those with perinatally acquired HIV and the transition from pediatric to adult health care. Dr. Fair’s dual identity as clinician-researcher and educator enables her to bridge rigorous scholarship with student mentorship and real-world relevance. Dave Gammon is an integrative scientist who builds bridges beyond traditional scientific communities. These communities include professionals and students in disciplines outside of the natural sciences such as the social sciences, business, and the arts and humanities, and citizens outside of academia. He builds bridges through the courses he teaches (mostly courses for non-science majors), through his science outreach activities, and through his interdisciplinary scholarship and other professional activity. Dr. Gammon is the T.E. Powell Professor, Jr. Professor and Professor of Biology at Elon University. His website is dgammonelon.wordpress.com Episode Credits This episode is co-hosted by Jessie L. Moore, Director of Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning, and Nolan Schultheis, a third-year student at Elon University, studying Psychology with an interest in law. Nolan Schultheis also edited the episode. Making College “Worth It” is produced by Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. Episode art was created by Nolan Schultheis and Jennie Goforth. Funky Percussions is by Denys Kyshchuk (@audiocoffeemusic) – https://www.audiocoffee.net/. Soft Beat is by ComaStudio. Explore Resources Related to The Episode Undergraduate Research Definition The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) defines undergraduate research as: “An inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.” Similarly, Kinkead (2003) notes that Undergraduate Research (UR) can… Salient Practices Following an extensive review of the literature on mentoring undergraduate research, ten salient practices emerged which support effective mentoring of undergraduate researchers. These practices can be used to develop a mentoring pedagogy of high quality. Multi-Semester Undergraduate Research Experiences 60-Second SoTL – Episode 67 What challenges do students encounter in a multi-semester, capstone undergraduate research experience, and what supports do they need to navigate those challenges? This episode highlights an open-access article that examines STEM graduates’ reflections on a three-semester capstone… Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences in the Humanities Making College “Worth It” – Season 3, Episode 2 In this episode, we explore strategies to keep students engaged in research in the humanities. We speak with Dr. Mary Isbell, an associate professor of English at the University of New… Engaging Students in Transcribing Historical Data: About the Project In this post and a series of student contributions that follow, we describe a summer project where we engaged with students doing transcription work of historical archival documents. While the original conception of the project started off as purely oriented… Facilitating Reflection in Undergraduate Research Making College “Worth It” – Season 2, Episode 9 In this episode, Nolan and Jessie talk with Dr. Paul Miller about facilitating reflection in undergraduate research. Collaborating with colleagues in experiential learning, Paul and Jessie created the FIRE Toolkit, a free… Collaboration in Creation: A Guide for Preparing and Presenting Research Posters – Part 2, For Mentors In our previous post, we, the members of the Infant Development Lab, shared advice for students on how to prepare to present research posters. In Part 2 of this series, we will now share several ways faculty mentors can support… 1 2 … 13 14 >
