Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center

UROC puts HIPs into practice

Costa Rica field sampling team

UROC was recently covered in a piece highlighting the importance of incorporating high impact practices(HIPs) into the undergraduate experience. Playing to your Strengths was published in the latest edition of Public Purpose, a magazine from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities(AASCU). In the article, UROC Director, Dr. Banks explained how “providing opportunities for deep engagement, and especially higher-impact practices, has the potential to transform student learning and academic opportunities for the future.” Dr. Banks and Dr. Carla Fresquez (UROC’s Research Associate) are currently in Costa Rica working with students engaged in a summer program. Last week, students, led by Dr. Banks, spent the morning in coffee farms in Santa Maria de Dota in the Tarrazu coffee-growing highlands, comparing yield data at sites (i) adjacent to and (ii) far away from forest fragments. Dr. Banks and Dr. Fresquez are meeting up with other UROC staff in Tampa, Florida next week to discuss other ways UROC is on the leading edge of HIPs at the Council on Undergraduate Affairs (CUR) biennial conference. Stay tuned for updates!