<p>Hi which school is a better research university that enables its undergraduates to search with their graduate and PhD students. In other words in which school undergrads do the most research?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Duke and Johns Hopkins (maybe you can google that?), but UVA has some research opportunities for undergraduates. They have Harrison Undergraduate Research awards, grants to fund all sorts of research. Just google that and you’ll find their other research grants too. I know there’s a grant specifically designed for collaboration between an undergraduate and a graduate student. So there are definitely many opportunities. However, keep in mind you have to apply for all these things. The selection process is very competitive.</p>
<p>Hope that helps a bit.</p>
<p>Duke > the other two across the board, though that is just an opinion and Hopkins has strengths. </p>
<p>I think the quality of the science departments is often reflected in the NRC ranking of the graduate programs in those departments ([United</a> States National Research Council rankings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Research_Council_rankings_]United”>United States National Research Council rankings - Wikipedia).</p>
<p>regarding access of undergraduates to research, I know Duke has outstanding access. UVA also has outstanding access. In addition to the awards mentioned above, research can be done for course credit in many sciences at both places.</p>
<p>I don’t know as much about hopkins</p>
<p>I’d say Hopkins is most outstanding followed by Duke. UVa is OK in sciences overall but no great shakes compared to the other two which are top tier in that area. Here’s an outside consultant’s view on the sciences at UVa</p>
<p>“The UVA CLAS departments in the sciences that we visited comprise, in the main,
dedicated teachers most of whom strive to be active in research in their respective
scientific fields. They have a good sense of the most important areas of current research,
where they stand in addressing the important scientific questions, where they want to go
to improve their research capabilities, and their rank among other competitive
institutions.
For CLAS science departments, the total research expenditure is about $45.3M for 187
faculty with a modest average of $242K per faculty member.10 Most departments are
suboptimal in faculty number when compared to their top tier peers. With some
exceptions (for example, Caltech, Princeton), if one plots number of faculty against NRC
ranking, there is a clear correlation. The more top class faculty the more funding they
bring in and the more and better quality graduate students they attract. The combination
leads to higher funding and enhanced reputation.
Recovering from Stagnation: Unless the science departments of CLAS achieve
significantly improved rankings, UVA cannot realize its goal of attaining national
standing as a research university. Some of the issues discussed as university-wide at the
end of this report have special relevance to CLAS.
The recent period of reduced and flat budgets and hiring freezes hurt the science
departments at UVA, some more than others. In several cases, departments feel they are
“playing catch-up” and request the resources and faculty lines to regain the sizes they
previously had. We are persuaded that in all cases, there are good strategic arguments
being made based on new scientific directions and current strengths to justify requests for
additional positions. Likewise, departments that fared better during the period of extreme
fiscal constraint also see faculty growth as being essential to retaining or improving their
current national rankings. In both categories, growth in research-active faculty is being
requested. Such growth, if adequate in number, funded and managed well, is probably
the single most important step that can be taken to improve the research standing of
UVA’s CLAS science departments.
Of course, the vital resources of research space and startup funding must also be secured
to go along with recruiting. Two special areas of concern at UVA are the relatively poor
condition of several buildings that house some of its science departments and the age
profile of the faculty – these issues are by no means unique to UVA, but they make it
even more difficult to effect significant growth in research productivity that would
receive national attention.”</p>
<p>Prepared by:
The Washington Advisory Group an LECG company
For UVa
June 30, 2007</p>
<p>barrons, what you say is reflected in the NRC rankings, but the question was about undergraduate research opportunities. That is more complicated. That said, there is no way UVA stacks up with Duke on the research front.</p>
<p>Yes, you don’t want to go up against JHU or Duke on science research areas. While there may be some others in their league, it definitely the A league. They are both doing multiples of the amount of science research than being done at UVa. It’s just not UVa’s strength and they know it and are working to improve. But it takes more time and money than they thought.</p>