Faculty chosen for research project
News Release - October 3, 2005
contact:
Karen L. Gill
karen.gill@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, VA) — A team of nine Christopher Newport University faculty members are working on a plan for creating more opportunities for undergraduate students to work with faculty on research across departments.
Working with a national alliance – Project Kaleidoscope – the CNU team’s goal is to make students and faculty aware of the value and potential for undergraduate out-of-classroom research and the benefits of working in different disciplines.
CNU was selected for the project based on a proposal Dr. Andrew Velkey, associate professor of Psychology, wrote this summer, with input from other faculty members.
“Research is for everybody at CNU,” said Velkey. “Any student at CNU, regardless of their level of preparation, their discipline, their interests, can have opportunities for research, and as a result of that, more faculty involvement.”
An example of the type of research the team hopes to encourage, Velkey said, is a media studies student working with a laboratory research team to help with presentations, displays, and other communications.
“It’s a cultural change,” said Dr. Bobbye Bartels, assistant dean for Liberal Learning. “Rather than students doing research solely in their department, there will be more cross-department research going on.”
Velkey said he kept the project’s mission somewhat vague so that faculty members could contribute their perspectives and ideas on what needed to be done and how to do it.
“We’ll use some of the successes we’ve had, dissect them and determine how much of it is related to the discipline and how much is transportable,” he said.
The CNU team will get help with the project through Project Kaleidoscope, which is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation.
The CNU team joins those from other schools, including Loyola University, Rutgers University, and Washington & Jefferson College, in the multi-institutional project, titled “Investing in the Future: Building Institutional Leadership for Science Communities.”
The CNU team consists of:
- Dr. Tarek Abdel-Fattah, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science
- Dr. Rob Atkinson, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science
- Dr. Bobbye Bartels, assistant dean for Liberal Learning
- Dr. Hongwei Chen, Department of Mathematics
- Dr. Gihan Mandour, Department of Physics, Computer Science and Engineering
- Dr. Mark Reimer, Department of Music
- Dr. Lori Underwood, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
- Dr. Andrew Velkey, Department of Psychology
- Dr. Edward Weiss, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science
For more information please contact Dr. Andrew Velkey at avelkey@cnu.edu.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.