The Emerging Scholars Program, a two-semester research program geared towards educating freshmen on research processes, has been around for six years. The program seeks to give freshmen a taste of how research is done.

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Professor Ann Webb, director of the Emerging Scholars Program, has been onboard since day one.

“I was on the planning committee for Emerging Scholars in 2008 when it began, and it has growing since then,” Webb said. “We actually got the idea for the program from the University of Michigan. They have a similar program that has been working for over 25 years now.”

Webb said the Emerging Scholars Program not only helps the freshmen students, but it helps the faculty as well. Webb also said the program lets faculty members and the students build a relationship so that the student always has someone to turn to in the future.

“Interest is rising in undergraduate research all over campus, and it is good for students to get involved early,” Webb said. “If students start getting into research junior and senior year, it is too late by then. Getting these students into research early is key.”

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The program has seen membership skyrocket over the past couple of years since Webb took over as director in fall of 2010. In 2009, the second year of the program, there were 14 participants. The following year, that number jumped to more than 200.

“All I did was send out a few emails, revise the website and put everything online,” Webb said. “That seemed to really help things out.”

Webb said the program counts for three credit hours: one for the first semester and two for the semester. The first semester is lecture-based and is designed to let faculty members get to know the students, learn about them and see what they want to research. The second semester is when students pair up with a professor and take part in research.

Anna Moyer, a junior majoring in biology, was in the program and said it helped her immensely.

“I worked with a graduate student to study how glial cells migrate in fruit fly embryos, and after two semesters, I realized I loved my research and wanted to continue with it,” Moyer said. “Starting research so early in my college career really made it possible for me to present at a conference my sophomore year and to pursue a graduate career.”

Jamie Bowman, a junior majoring in English, was in the program last year, and she said it taught her how to do research and approach professors.

“The Emerging Scholars Program taught me so much about not only how to do research, but how to approach professors with ideas for research,” Bowman said. “I did research with Dr. Emily Wittman of the English department. We did a creative project titled ‘Confronting Ghosts: Seeing the Past in the Present.’ We explored the ghost stories of Tuscaloosa and UA, reading about and responding to, through a creative journal, the idea of ghosts and how they shape the local history.”

Webb said the Emerging Scholars Program is not just for students in traditionally research-heavy fields like science and engineering, but for undergraduates of all colleges and all majors.

“Students don’t think all our faculty do research, but every faculty member does some type of research,” Webb said. “We just need to get students to realize that.”

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