Florida State University
AC-10: Support for Research

FSU offers a variety of ways for students to engage in research opportunities, including sustainability topics: The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) promotes and supports the engagement of FSU undergraduates in research and creative projects with the supervision or collaboration of FSU faculty. OUR lists research and internship opportunities; awards and scholarships are available to support research activities. The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) offers an opportunity for students to work closely with faculty and peers, receive mentorship and training in the UROP Colloquium class, and present their contributions in the Spring Research Symposium. Research experiences through the Garnet & Gold Scholar Society are sustained scholarly or creative projects developed under the direction of a faculty mentor that culminate in a formal presentation, publication, performance or exhibition. Through the Research Experience, students will demonstrate the ability to apply research methods appropriate for the student's discipline and engage in ongoing critical discussion within their chosen field.

While no formal program exists at this time, faculty are encourage to pursue research and scholarship that expands the frontiers of knowledge in their areas of expertise. Their cutting-edge research enriches and informs classroom teaching and their achievements gain national and international recognition. FSU supports numerous research centers, research partnerships, and large-scale collaborative grant/research consortia to enhance the scholarship of sustainability disciplines.

As mentioned in "Successful Faculty Performance in Teaching, Research, and Service" (2010, FSU Dean of Faculties office): programmatic research and focused creative work should not be constrictive. A faculty member’s research or creative work should be flexible enough to take advantage of serendipity, as well as collaboration with students and colleagues...Faculty members also collaborate with their colleagues by adding their specialized research or artistic expertise to a project even though the project is tangential to their own work...While a certain amount of diversity in research and creative work is appropriate, a faculty member’s Vita should still show clear evidence of a research program or creative focus that is long-term, or periodically evolving, if substantive contributions are to be made to his or her field of study or expression. There should be an obvious coherence in the titles of publications, presentations, and contracts and grants.

The research assistance service through FSU Libraries provides students and faculty the opportunity to receive one-on-one help with their research needs. http://library.fsu.edu/service/research Research Guides put together by subject librarians offer extensive guides on hundreds of topics: http://guides.lib.fsu.edu/index.php