Undergraduates, uncovering truths

From pitching ideas to an internal review board to writing an abstract, navigating the world of research can be challenging for even the most seasoned scholar. But at the University of Florida, a community at the forefront of innovation and inquiry, research isn’t just for graduate students or seasoned faculty. It is a gateway for students to ask big questions, tackle real-world problems and actively participate in shaping their fields of interest.

Research is a way for students to see a practical outcome of the skills they read about in textbooks. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers distinct programs that engage undergraduate students in research, kick-starting their passion without needing a bachelor’s degree.

From partnering with community organizations to enable humanities research, to financial studies analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on tourism, the college supports countless students in exploring their passions through analysis.

Fiorella Recchioni, a history and political science major with a minor in mass communication studies, said engaging with research in her undergraduate years helped her gain a set of invaluable skills.

“As a sophomore, I knew that I would likely want to do an honors thesis in the future, so this felt like a good opportunity to get some experience under my belt before starting that process,” she said. “Now that I am applying to the history honors program and looking into history research topics for a thesis, I feel like I have a decent idea of how the process should go, and the challenges that I will run into.”

Community impact

Recchioni is a Grass Scholar, part of an undergraduate research program offered by the Center for Humanities and the Public Sphere. As a relatively new initiative, the Grass Scholars Program brings together a cohort of 20 students supported by the Alexander Grass Foundation. Through the generous funding, students receive not only financial assistance, but also opportunities to cultivate research skills, collaborate in team-based settings and actively engage with their communities.

“I conducted research on Gainesville AIDS advocacy organizations and working with a team to piece together the life and story of individuals from the community was incredibly helpful for future archival research on a larger scale,” she said. Working with the Matheson Museum in Gainesville, Recchioni discovered she would like to pursue a more ambitious project involving research abroad.

Through the program, each spring term, undergraduates undergo a competitive process to participate in a project-based learning experience through research in the humanities. Students are introduced to the nuts-and-bolts of humanistic methods like careful reading, historical analysis, contextualization, conceptual analysis and critical evaluation. Students learn to develop research questions, interact with archives, locate and assess sources, choose research methods, navigate ethical considerations and practice strategies for communicating about findings, according to Jaime Ahlberg, associate professor of philosophy, and Rothman Chair and director of the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere.

In UF’s Summer A, students are enrolled in a course on humanities research fundamentals. As a part of this course, they are divided into four groups, each of which explores a publicly engaged topic and produces a research project.

The Grass Scholars Program connects students with the greater Gainesville community. In summer 2024, students were paired with projects led by the Matheson Museum, Smathers Libraries, the A. Quinn Jones Museum and the Harn Museum of Art. In summer 2025, students are slated to be paired with projects led by the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center, the Gulf Scholars Program/Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, the Historic Preservation Program and the Hippodrome Theater.

Then, in the fall term, each student completes an independent research project and participates in a Grass Scholar Research Symposium to publicly present their work. Students are connected to faculty mentors and are supported by graduate student mentors.

Grass Scholars learn how to work in teams, conduct research, present research to the public and become familiar with digital skills, Ahlberg said.

“They explore questions regarding ethics in research and storytelling, and learn how to formulate their own research agendas,” she said. “These activities promote critical thinking, independence, interpersonal skills and facility in ethical thinking and acting, which are relevant to any career path students wish to pursue.”

The program is designed to help students turn their passions into academic programs and connect them to the faculty and campus resources related to their areas of interest, she said. This is meant to better position the scholars to understand possible career paths, network, and build their resumes and research portfolios, she said.

“I am proudest of the way in which our students have expressed their passion for public humanities work, channeling their career and research interests into explorations of the public good,” she said.

Economy of scale

Through a competitive selection process each spring, the Cutler Family Undergraduate Scholars Program represents the brightest minds in the Department of Economics.

The program provides students with an opportunity to conduct supervised research one-on-one with a faculty advisor of their choosing. Students complete a yearlong research project and submit a paper and a short video abstract. They can then share these deliverables with employment recruiters or on graduate applications.

Funded by the generous support of Paul Cutler and family, successful applicants receive a scholarship in each semester of their award year.

Oftentimes, students can use the Cutler scholars program to help with their senior thesis as well, said Michelle Phillips, instructional associate professor in the economics department and undergraduate thesis advisor. She said these students get hands-on experience that they can bring to job interviews and graduate programs.

Thomas Knight, an instructional professor and department chair of economics, said Cutler scholars often use the program as a stepping stone for future opportunities.

“These aren’t just Cutler scholars recipients,” he said. “These are the crème de la crème of economics.”

This is experiential learning that gives students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in their courses to a practical application, Knight said.

“It’s giving students an opportunity to explore something that they’re intellectually curious about, to apply their critical thinking skills, in many cases their econometrics and data skills,” he said. “They can talk thoughtfully about something that’s exciting, that’s unique to them, that they’re passionate about. It showcases these skills that they’ve developed in their undergraduate career and also reveals how they now understand how they can apply those skills to real-world situations.”

Historically speaking

Undergraduate members of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honors society, are provided funds for travel and research through the generous support of the Noll Family Fund. Through supporting off-campus research projects, students broaden their intellectual horizons, said Steven Noll, an instructional professor in the Department of History.

Noll and his wife, Beverly, have established a fund that supports Phi Alpha Theta students, allowing them to conduct off-campus research on their own history projects. As the Phi Alpha Theta advisor since 2005, Noll said he feels it is important to provide financial support for students to work on their research.

“Students in the humanities have traditionally not had access to grants associated with individual research projects,” he said. “These programs provide funding for these students and gives them the opportunities to expand their intellectual horizons.”

Rebekkah Hudson, a Noll Family Fund recipient, will be visiting the archival collections on Kenya, housed at Northwestern and Syracuse University in the coming months.

“Thanks to the Noll Family Fund, I am able to advance my goal of tracing the intellectual trajectories, as well as the cultural changes within the Gikuyu community throughout the early to mid-20th century,” Hudson said.

Hannah Alfieri will be highlighting the legacy of Grand Canyon explorer John Wesley Powell. Beyond his contributions to geology, Alfieri intends to investigate his lesser-known work in comparative ethnology and the evolution of humans. With the support of the Noll Family Fund, Alfieri will access the U.S. Geological Survey and Smithsonian archival resources in Washington, D.C. to fully determine the scope of Powell’s work.

“These scholars-in-training have worked diligently to identify interesting historical questions, sort through available evidence and produce engaging narratives to detail what they have learned,” said Department Chair Joseph Spillane.

Despite the subject matter, undergraduate research cultivates intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and a deeper understanding of the world through direct engagement. It empowers students to move beyond the classroom, contributing original ideas and gaining the confidence to ask — and answer — complex questions.