The Importance of Research in Student Formation.

Research is the process intended to create new or improved technology that can provide a competitive advantage at the business, industry, or national level. The future economic progress of any country will be driven by the invention and application of new technologies. The emphasis on funding in universities is misleading and understates the actual importance of research at the university and its importance in student formation. Successful research programs involve undergraduate students, graduate students, and informed faculty. Research prepares students to identify problems and solve them in innovative ways and can be measured by how students' knowledge, thinking patterns, skills and attitudes are changed. Involvement in research, for either students or faculty, addresses the need to develop curiosity and the ability to ask the right question. This paper will emphasize the importance of research to the economy and higher education. It will then introduce the importance of research to student formation and reinforce the importance of exposing students early to the concepts of research. This paper will then show the connection between research and Entrepreneurially Minded Learning (EML) and describe three projects, supported by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) and the Kern Foundation, intended to expose undergraduates to research early in their academic careers. The first project was part of KEEN's initial "EML through Research" workshop given in Nov 2019. The project, entitled "Research and EML: Helping Students (and Faculty) See and Understand the Value of Research" grew from a desire to involve more undergraduate students in research. The vision was to expose undergraduates to research and then determine how to teach them basic skills. While the scope of the project was limited, it led to the second project. The second project, entitled "Understanding the Importance of Research in Student Formation and Value Creation," was to develop three short videos intended to inform undergraduates about research. The three videos were filmed and associated instructor guides developed for topics concerning undergraduate research. The broad topics were "What is Research?", "Undergraduate Research," and "Product Commercialization." The third project is just beginning and aims to further expose undergraduates to research and reinforce the importance research in student formation. It is entitled "An EM-Driven Framework for Undergraduate Research" and involves six institutions from across the KEEN network. The areas being developed are Early Exposure, Student Research Training, Faculty & Mentor Training, and Assessment. This project is just starting and will be ongoing for three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]