Alliance Research Model
The cornerstone of the Alliance and the activity within which each of our three major goals is accomplished is a growing set of collaborative research pods that foster and support an intellectual environment and sense of belonging in a research community at the HBCU’s.
Unlike the typical REU structure where students go to a research university alone for summer weeks and then it’s over, this pod model creates identity and develops knowledge and skills as well as a relationship with the research university faculty member throughout the academic year. Program elements of the pod concept include:
- match between a research university faculty and HBCU faculty with student teams together in year-round projects (student teams include both undergraduate and master’s students);
- greater awareness of research tasks and career paths by means of a research seminar (implemented either in modules as ongoing part of pods or as standalone course, depending on the credit-granting conditions of the HBCU);
- kick-off celebrations where visiting research university faculty develop relationships with pods through talks and personal interaction (when students go to the research university in summer, they will already know this professor);
- team visit to research university faculty lab in the spring;
- team participation in the research university summer program, in which they build upon the educational and research agenda they developed during the academic year and strengthen the relationship with the faculty partner;
- continue the work of the pod upon returning to their home campus with the goal being a team publication, as well as continued research. The entire pod concept then feeds back to strengthen the HBCU educational program and research agenda.
Affiliate partner schools agree to promote the research pathway intentionally and encourage their students to participate in summer REU experiences, and other funding for research sources such as CREU and DREU programs.