Undergraduate students' recognition and development as researchers

The purpose of this work is to investigate how undergraduate engineering students perceive being recognized as researchers and what they identify to influence their development as researchers. Student responses (n=21) to open-ended survey items were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The students who participated in this study were from bioengineering and material science and engineering departments with varying amounts of research experience (one to five years) and at varying stages in their undergraduate careers (sophomore to senior). All of the students in the study self-identified as researchers. Most of the students perceived being recognized as researchers. They explained that they were recognized as researchers when they were working on an independent project, presenting their work, receiving acknowledgements from research mentors, and talking about their research to people outside their field. Students identified their fellow lab members, family members, college classes, and research experiences as influencing their development as researchers. Results from this work can inform undergraduate research experiences that foster the development of students' researcher identities. These results can also be extended to inform the development of other programs that seek to develop student's problem solving and communication skills in similar ways as research experiences.