University Student Research Center
The University Student Research Center (USRC) at Andrews University supports Undergraduate Research Scholars (URS), Honors, and other students seeking to develop their research capacity. We created the research center because we know:
1. Students may feel intimidated or unsure about conducting research.
2. Access to research experience can open doors to future opportunities.
The Research Center offers a 12-module yearlong research development experience that moves students from research interests to measurable scholarly and professional outcomes. In each session, students will participate in a 40-minute faculty-led didactic session, followed by two hours of guided, hands-on research support from experienced student research assistants. The model combines faculty expertise, peer mentorship, and applied learning, enabling students to immediately apply concepts introduced during the didactic session to their individual or team research projects.
The instructional components are organized as follows:
| # | Date | Session Topic | Faculty/Faciliator | Session Focus |
| 1 | September 22 | Introduction to Research & Developing the Research Problem | Stacie Hatfield | Students explore the research process, identify a meaningful problem or area of inquiry, assess its significance, and begin developing a focused and feasible research topic. |
| 2 | September 29 | Literature Review & Identifying the Research Gap | Marileda Tome | Students learn strategies for conducting scholarly literature searches, evaluating credible sources, synthesizing existing research, and identifying gaps that establish the need for their proposed study. |
| 3 | October 6 | Research Questions, Objectives & Hypotheses | Melissa Ponce-Rodas | Students translate the identified problem and literature gap into clearly defined research questions, measurable objectives, and, where appropriate, testable hypotheses. |
| 4 | October 27 | Research Design & Methodology | Harvey Burnett | Students examine quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches and develop an appropriate study design, including sampling strategies, variables, data sources, instruments, and procedures. |
| 5 | November 10 | Developing Research Instruments | Shannon Trecartin | Students explore the processes involved in developing and validating instruments used in research, with attention to reliability, validity, and alignment with the research questions. |
| 6 | November 17 | Research Ethics, IRB & Responsible Conduct of Research | Mordekai Ongo | Students are introduced to research integrity, human-subject protections, informed consent, confidentiality, data security, plagiarism, authorship, and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process. |
| 7 | December 1 | Data Collection, Management & Analysis | Karl Bailey | Students learn principles of high-quality data collection and management and are introduced to appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative analytical approaches for answering their research questions. |
| 8 | January 12 | Basic Statistics | Michael Milmine | Students Students learn basic statistical concepts. |
| 9 | January 19 | Interpreting Results & Scholarly Writing | Williams Peprah | Students learn to interpret findings in relation to their research questions and existing literature and organize their research into a scholarly manuscript, including results, discussion, limitations, conclusions, and recommendations. |
| 10 | February 9 | Dissemination, Publication & Research-to-Career Pathways | Kristen Witzel | Students prepare their work for dissemination through research posters, oral presentations, conference abstracts, and manuscripts for publication. The session also provides guidance on research-related career pathways. |
| 11 | February 23 | Funding & Research Internships | Carlisle Sutton | Students receive guidance on tools and strategies for identifying and applying for relevant research grants, funding opportunities, and summer research internships. |
| 12 | March 9 | Open Research Session | — | Dedicated working session in which students receive individualized support, address research challenges, refine their projects, and advance their research toward completion, presentation, publication, or internship opportunities. |
By the end of the academic year, participating students will be expected to achieve clearly defined scholarly and professional milestones, including completion of a research project, presentation of findings, development of a manuscript suitable for submission for publication, and participation in or placement into a research-related internship or experiential learning opportunity.
Sessions will begin at 5:30 pm in Buller Hall, Rm 207 on specified Tuesdays.
Students are at different levels of research readiness. This mentoring structure provides individualized assistance, reinforces research competencies, establishes accountability for project milestones, and helps students overcome methodological and writing challenges. Sessions are optional, and students can attend based on their perceived need. Refreshments and Co-curricular credits will be available at each session. Students who attend 10 of the 12 sessions will earn a certificate of completion.
Individuals pursuing Qualitative Research are advised to also utilize the Qualitative Research meetings.
For more details contact:
Carlisle O. Sutton, M.Div., MSCID
Sponsored Research Officer
Andrews University
8488 E. Campus Circle Drive
234 Buller Hall
Berrien Springs, MI 49104
Carlisle@andrews.edu Email
269-471-3042 Office
269-362-3446 Cell
