Spring 2018
Writing Fellows and Writing Tutors: Supporting Critical Reading
UROC and the CLC—The Collaborative Learning Center—offered a 6-session joint professional development workshop series focused on fostering habits of mind through writing, reading and critical analysis of research articles.

Using the Framework for Success in PostSecondary Writing, in each session, a team comprised of one CLC writing tutor and UROC writing fellow facilitated an hour-long discussion analyzing the research writing conventions apparent in their respective disciplines.

Conversations included specific techniques writers use to connect skilled readers in the disciplines to as well as ways writers invite a knowledgeable group of readers to engage in a piece of text. One participant noted: “Through the joint sessions, choosing an article and discussing it with my peers is what helped me get familiar with the expectations and conventions for writing in my own discipline.”
Next fall, UROC and the CLC will continue to build additional modules to enhance this existing professional development series. “Collaborating with UROC made us [CLC] feel part of the same learning community, and our discussions helped tutors be more aware of the disciplinary knowledge Scholars possess. Tutors also appreciated the opportunity to learn more about research writing and to get to know the UROC Scholars.”

The collaboration is part of the HSI grant-funded initiative to support cross-programmatic development in student programs.
Writing Fellows Top Row: Alex Jensen, Robert Castro, Katie Brown, Emily Smith, Gina Dabbah
Bottom Row from Left to Right: Madison Heard and Natasha Oehlman
Congratulations: UROC Mentor of Year, Dr. Danielle Burchett! 
Samantha Gonzalez and Danielle Burchett at the Year-End Celebration on May 9th
Dr. Burchett, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded the 2018 UROC Mentor of the Year Award.

Dr. Burchett teaches undergraduate courses on psychopathology and career planning for psychology majors, and directs the Clinical and Forensic Evaluation (CAFE) Laboratory, examining the strengths and weaknesses of clinical psychological tests--especially when they are used to understand forensic inpatient symptom severity and reporting accuracy.
Dr. Burchett recognizes all the inspirational mentors who inspired her interest in psychology and most importantly her mom, Charlotte Horton, for her unwavering confidence in Dr. Burchett’s ability to accomplish her goals.
2 UROC Scholars earn Honorable Mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). 
Photo of Kirby Bartlett
Photo of Emily Smith
To date, 21 UROC Scholars are NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recipients.

Emily Smith, Social Behavioral Sciences and Kirby Bartlett, Marine Science, both received Honorable Mention for the 2017-2018 award cycle.

In fall, funded by the Dean’s Merit Fellowship, Kirby, also a NOAA Scholar , will pursue a Master’s of Science and Environmental Management in the Bren School at University of California, Santa Barbara, and Emily will pursue a Master’s of Arts in Anthropology at George Mason University. “To me, receiving Honorable Mention from NSF is an immense honor especially in archaeology. Applying to the NSF means I now have a solid research plan and goals to focus on in graduate school.” Emily Smith

The new  awardees were selected from more than 12,000 applicants and come from all 50 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Honorable Mention recognition went to 1,459 individuals.

UROC Psychology Scholar Awarded Honorable Mention for National STEM Scholarship
Katrina Conen, Psychology UROC scholar and senior, was awarded Honorable Mention by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation for her research in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. “Getting the Barry Goldwater Honorable Mention as a psychology major means a lot to me as I pursue my graduate school goals----it distinguishes me as a researcher and scientist.”   Learn more about her research .

The Goldwater Foundation was created in honor of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater to support students in mathematics, natural science, and engineering. This year, a total of 1,280 students nationwide were nominated by their home institutions. Of those, 211 scholarships were awarded and 281 nominees were named Honorable Mentions.

2018 Barbara Baldock & Phillip Butler UROC Research Scholarship Awardee
Jenny Hatch
UROC Scholar Jennifer Hatch, a Psychology major, is the recipient of the 2018 Barbara Baldock and Phillip Butler UROC Research Scholarship.

The Barbara Baldock and Philip Butler Scholarship is awarded to UROC Scholars based on academic achievement, undergraduate research interests, financial need, graduate school aspirations, and a commitment to serve the community through research, outreach, and service.

Barbara and Phil have been supporting UROC Scholars since 2011.
Photo of Dr. Phillip Butler and Barbara Baldock
UROC Summer Programs
Transfer Student Summer Research Program
The UROC Transfer Student Summer Research Program has selected 11 students from community colleges around California conduct research at CSU Monterey Bay. The 9-week summer program is designed to expose students to state of the art research, with the aim of stimulating their interest in pursuing 4-year STEM degrees. Students get to work one-on-one with individual faculty and and learn first hand how science research is carried out.
Researcher Program Larger & More Diverse than Ever
Every summer, UROC offers a summer research program designed for UROC Scholars and Researchers conducting research in the local area. The UROC Summer Research Program guides students through the process of designing and presenting research in a public venue through professional development workshops.
Our first summer program served approximately 20 students and has grown substantially. This summer the 4th annual UROC Researcher program will support 53 students from 5 Colleges across CSUMB to engage in mentored undergraduate research experiences. These students represent the College of Business, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, College of Health Sciences and Human Services, College of Science, and College of Education and come from a total of 13 different majors at CSUMB. 
The students will present their research at the regional 2018 Summer Research Symposium on Friday, August 10th in the Ta nimura & Antle Library. The symposium is a collaboration between UROC, the Monterey Bay Regional Ocean Science Research Experience for Undergraduates program, the Naval Post Graduate School, and Hartnell Community College. 
CURE Fellowship Summer Program
This Summer, we are launching the Course Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Faculty Fellowship program that will be funded by the Department of Education HSI STEM and Articulation Grant. Dr. Corin White who is the Curriculum Associate for UROC and Dr. Corin Slown, the Assistant Professor for School of Natural Sciences will be hosting and facilitating the CURE Faculty Fellowship program.

The goal of the CURE Faculty Fellowship Program is to provide CSUMB faculty (lecturers and tenure-track) the space and structure to develop plans, instructional materials, curricular activities and evaluation strategies for the integration of authentic research activities into new or current STEM or STEM-related courses. Two of our major objectives are to support the development of general education (GE) and/or first year seminar (FYS) courses as well as scaffolding student research experiences.
Opportunities and Application Deadlines at a Glance
UROC Program Deadlines
UROC offers several programs to engage students in undergraduate research in all departments. The following are opportunities to connect with faculty, get published and present your research at conferences:

October 29, 2018
Scholars & McNair Program

January 27, 2019
Researchers

When Research is Completed
Certificate

Early of Spring 2019 Semester
Transfer Student Summer Research Program

Middle of Spring 2019 Semester
LSAMP

Explore our website to learn more about our programs .
UROC Events & Conferences
  1. Summer Research Symposium: On August 10, 2018, the Annual CSUMB Summer Research Symposium will celebrate the research and creative activities of (UROC), (REU) Program, and (NPS) Internship Program. With almost 100 student researchers working with numerous research institutions in the Monterey Bay area, there is certainly a lot to celebrate!
  2. SACNAS Conference: SACNAS is a conference encouraging success of students from Chicano/Hispanic & Native American backgrounds. Application deadline is July 6 to attend the conference in San Antonio, Texas. Read more
Meet the New UROC Staff!
UROC has grown quite a bit over the past two years! There are many new faces around the office. The following are our new staff: