WELCOME TO THE2015 JMU COB HONORS EVENT

September 17th 2015

RAISING THE PROFILE OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

UNDERSTANDING EXPECTATIONS

COMPLETING THE HONORS PROJECT

▪ Expectations–Who should be my adviser or readers?–What are you interested in? What should it

look like?–Why do the project?–How do you start the project?–When do I start?

INTRODUCTIONS

Honors Program

▪ Brad Newcomer -Honors Program Director

▪ Phil Frana-Honors Program Associate Director

▪ Jared Diener-Honors Academic Adviser

James Madison Undergraduate Research Assistant Program

▪ Mike Mitri-CIS

Alumni

▪ Eleanor Jordan-Economics

Faculty Advisor

▪ Bill Grant-Economics

Honors Liaisons

▪ Lou Betancourt-Accounting

▪ Michelle Duncan-COB

▪ Rebecca Simmons-CIS

▪ Vipul Bhatt-Economics

▪ Jaideep Chowdhury-Finance and Quantitiative Finance

▪ Kirk Elwood-International Business

▪ Eric Stark-Management

▪ Joe Derby-Marketing

PROJECTS 2009-2015

Accounting

▪ Taylor Selby. 2013. The Threat Financing Cycle (Louwers)

▪ Amanda Cybulski. 2010. A Study in the Complexity of Tax Law in the United States since the Codification of the 1986 Tax Code. (Nichols)

CIS

▪ Oluwasina Joseph-Ojeniyi. 2013. The Proficient I.T. Consultant: A Study of the Professional. (Dillon)

▪ Fiona Colquhoun. 2012. Alternative-Text Conversion Case Study. (May)

▪ Christine Smith. 2009. Applications of Machine Learning Techniques on Intrusion Detection Systems. (Kruck)

International Business

▪ Armun Asgari. 2012. The Failure of American Automakers in the American Market. (Horn)

PROJECTS 2009-2015

Economics

▪ Eleanor Jordan. 2015. Critical Analysis of the Confounding of Clinical Trials (Grant)

▪ Laura Stanley. 2013. The Impact of Offsetting Student Behavior on Innovations in Teaching Effectiveness. (Wood)

▪ Anna Faria. 2012. Bittersweet Development: The Role of Sugar and Coffee in Brazilian Economic Growth. (Subrick)

▪ Jeno Pizarro. 2012. The Prospect of Transforming Blight: New Urban Redevelopment in the Shaw-U Street Neighborhood of Washington D.C. (Swartz-Political Science)

▪ David Botello. 2012. A Discussion of the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown and Systemic Amplification. (Fields)

▪ Christopher Gibson. 2009. Willingness to Pay and Consumer Voluntary Price Discrimination: The Case of Online Music. (Wood)

PROJECTS 2009-2015

Finance

▪ Matthew Rubino. 2015. The Effects of Quantitative Easing in the United States: Implications for Future Central Bank Policy Makers. (Drake)

▪ Long Bui. 2014. Capital Structure Study: Accounting and Statistics Issues. (Chowdhury)

▪ Stephanie Skaggs. 2014. The Financial Implications of a Cashless Society on Individual Consumers, Business, Banking Institutions, and the Government. (Drake)

▪ Eric Kitchens. 2014. Investor Expectations of the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis: Applying the Bates Model to Modern Stock Market Events. (Fink)

▪ Katie Duquette. 2013. An Analysis of the Linkage between Environmental Sustainability and the Wealth of a Nation. (Liu)

▪ Benjamin McGarry. 2013. A Grounded Theory Examination of the Relationship between Consumer (Dis)Empowerment, Social Media, and Corporate Social Responsibility. (Liu)

▪ Brian Needham. 2010. An Overview of Capital Budgeting Techniques of U.S. Hospitals. (Liu)

PROJECTS 2009-2015

Management

▪ Mollie Brooks. 2012. A Survey of Corporate Philanthropy. (Stark)

▪ Meredythe Fallon. 2012. What's Next for the Entrepreneur Graduate? (Stark)

▪ Jessica Merz. 2012. The Effects of Exclusive Contracts on Organizational Competitiveness. (Stark)

▪ Alyssa Richardson. 2012. The Effects of Feminism and Gender on the Organization. (Stark)

▪ Carly Turk. 2011. How Federal Legislation Affects Employee Management. (Stark)

▪ Benjamin Kilmer. 2010. Evolution of the Music Industry: The Effect of Technology and Law on Strategic Management and Sustainability. (Cavazos)

▪ Amanda Ngo. 2009. The Use and Impact of Collateral Signals In Business Presentations. (White)

PROJECTS 2009-2015

Marketing

▪ Morgan Moore. 2015. Intuitive Thought and Consumer Decision Making. (Larsen)

▪ Kelly Pollhammer. 2014. Socially Active Executives as Digital Influencers. (Boyd)

▪ Benjamin McGarry. 2013. A Grounded Theory Examination of the Relationship Between Consumer (Dis)Empowerment, Social Media, and Corporate Social Responsibility. (Boyd)

▪ Laura Jennings. 2012. A Study of Honors Program Attrition: What are they Missing? (Scherpereel/Boyd)

▪ Kathryn Delli-Colli. 2009. Gender Differences in Response to Customer Win-Back Offers. (Tokman)

▪ Jennifer Lodder. 2009. The Distinction Between Impulsive and Compulsive Buying Behaviors: A Review of the Literature and Implications for College-Aged Adults. (Faranda)

Honors Thesis ReflectionEllie Jordan

Rundown of Today’s Talk IntroductionBasic Sequence of Events- Honors Program

TimelineMy Project Development Timeline

Honors Project Topic: clinical trial randomization/ biostatistics

Difficulties Encountered

Benefits of and Helpful hints for Completing an Honors Thesis

Personal Introduction

Ellie Jordan from Fairfax, VAMay 2015 Honors Graduate from the

College of BusinessEconomics Major (BS)

Biology Minor, Pre-Med Preparation

Thesis topic: Bias in Clinical TrialsWhat I’m doing now…

Basic Sequence of Events Spring Junior year

Start with your own idea/interest

Meet with an advisor or a professor to discuss your idea and how to proceed

Find your faculty advisor & readers

Write/submit “Thesis Proposal” for acceptance

Fall Senior Year

Finalize topic & begin research/collecting data

Continue discussions with advisor and readers

Begin writing if prepared

Spring Senior Year

Begin/Continue to write thesis while incorporating advice from advisor/ readers

Complete and submit to Honors Program (get a metal!!)

Create a poster board and present at the Honors Symposium

My Project DevelopmentSpring Junior Year

Had an idea of my own- wanted to merge my studies of health & economics

Met with my pre-med advisor, Dr. Babcock for guidanceShe introduced me to Dr. Bill Grant in the Econ Dept.

Bill had the experience and expertise in clinical trial randomization and health economics I needed to decide on a topic

Began discussing our ideas to narrow in on my topic- long process!

My Project Development Spring Junior Year Cont.

Bill provided me with his own knowledge on papers pertaining to my topic written by himself and his colleagues at NIH & Duke

Told me about a possible internship opportunity with one of his colleagues from NIH, Vance Berger who was offering a summer internship in biometry research

Spent the summer completing extensive research on bias in clinical trials and randomization

Provided me with a detailed understanding of what I wanted my thesis topic to be & kept in touch with Bill!

My Project Development

Fall Senior YearReturned to JMU with a wealth of in-depth knowledge

and completed research on clinical trial randomization and bias to discuss with Bill

He helped me sort out my ideas and provided some suggestions of his own

Finally landed on the topic, purpose and organization of my paper

Continued my own research and began sketching out paper

Initial Project Development DifficultiesDeciding on a topic takes time…

Don’t rush, start with your own idea or purposeYour faculty advisor will guide you through this

process if you let them!Much background information is needed

Difficulties finding a topic…Hard to narrow in on one specific topic- mine

combined a couple of ideas, more broadNeeded extensive background knowledge to

even begin narrowing in on my final topic

My Project Development

Spring Senior YearWriting officially beganContinued communication with Bill

Took his Health Economics class which allowed me to incorporate information I learned in class into my thesis!

Exchanged drafts with advisor and readers to gain feedback and make changes

Submitted the completed project and created a poster for the symposium

Benefits of Completing a Thesis

Got me thinking about careers & graduate school Having published a paper in undergrad is impressive

to potential employers or admissions committees Gained a great mentoring relationship with Dr. Grant

Able to learn so much from him, even about real world issues outside of my thesis topic

Working collectively on a project over the course of one 1.5 years we have developed a friendship

We keep in touch-thankful for our close relationship

Helpful Hints Choose a topic you actually like and are genuinely

interested in learning aboutMake it something you “want” to do rather than

something you “have” to do Make due dates for yourself Be prepared to make some sacrifices, time-wise Use your resources- faculty, advisors, friends,

parents, research databases, prior knowledge, library, BOOKS

JUST DO IT!

THE HONORS PROJECT – A SUMMARY

▪ The 499 A/B/C– Finding a faculty mentor & topic, second semester Junior year (499A)– Must be a total combination of 6 credits. Can be 499A (1), 499B (2), 499C (3).– 499A can be done in summer ($$) and 499B/499C during senior year.

▪ New types of honors projects– Collaborative/Journal-style/Business plan– Turning COB300 into an honors project

▪ Areas of emphasis.– Research, Leadership, Global Studies, Service, & Creative.– Introductory & Experiential Seminars in Sophomore year.– Practicum in Junior year. Potential to continue into honors project.

▪ Depth of learning versus a minor.

▪ Rebecca Simmons – CIS is looking for interested students!

NEW PATHWAYS AND NETWORKING: COB UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

▪ Students may now apply to work with faculty members on their research. – Paid ($10/hr) positions, during academic year or summer. – Opportunity to work with faculty on their research.– Chance to gain valuable experience using software, building

databases, and publishing opportunities.– Research may be academic, pedagogical, or practitioner.

▪ Mike Mitri – CIS– Currently working with two RA’s. – Continued work from over the summer with one student.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT (RA) PROGRAM

▪ You are encouraged to contact faculty to make a connection– You can still do this if you have already filled out an

application!

▪ General RA Program Information– Student application– Faculty application

▪ Due date for spring applications is September 27

▪ Experience has “completion standards” reflecting on the experience.

▪ Summer program feedback was very positive from both faculty and students.

COMPETITIVE SCHOLARSHIPS

▪ Competitive scholarships– Hillcrest— $5,000 for Research, Service/Leadership, Global

Studies, & Entrepreneurship.– Hinshaw-Daniel (Any Hillcrest area with need).– Fulbright—Previous winner from COB.

▪ Hillcrest Scholarships provide $5,000 to support extraordinary, off-campus summer experiences

▪ Eligibility– Second-year Honors student

HILLCREST SCHOLARSHIPS

▪ Research

▪ Service/leadership

▪ Global studies

▪ McGhee Scholarship for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

▪ Hinshaw-Daniel: Open to all areas; requires financial need

APPLICATION

▪ Personal statement (1-2 pages)

▪ Project proposal

▪ Draft budget

▪ Resume

▪ Unofficial transcript

▪ Letter of recommendation from your faculty mentor/letter of support

TIMELINE

▪ Fall 2015: Meet with Melinda Adams, identify a faculty mentor, begin thinking about a project

▪ Spring 2016: Application due in March, preliminary interviews in April, banquet & final interviews in late April.

▪ Fall 2016/Spring 2017: Refine project & prepare

▪ Summer 2017: Complete project

SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

▪ What do you need to succeed?

▪ Who do you need to talk to?

▪ What do you want to learn?