Background
When I entered my undergraduate education I had a very narrow view of what my academic experience would be. I was under the impression that my education would begin and end with coursework. This misunderstanding lasted until I was nearing the end of my freshman year when I learned that I had the ability to join a research group as an undergraduate. At this point I began tinkering with instrumentation and computational work, and quickly fell in love with research. The lab quickly became my second home, and I could very readily see the real-world applications of my coursework before my very eyes.
The goal of GOFUR is to reach driven students well before their freshmen year and give them an early notice of the fascinating science that awaits them as they leave high school. In doing so, I am aiming to get students excited about the amazing science happening at all levels of academia ranging from the University of Mississippi to the California Institute of Technology and show them where they can contribute.
What We Do
Notice: GOFUR is currently in its infancy, so future developments may vary from that listed below.
GOFUR aims to connect public, STEM magnet schools in the southeastern United States with undergraduate researchers both in their area and across the nation. To do so we will be implementing:
Virtual research symposiums in which Undergraduate students will give brief introductions of their research at a high school level. These symposiums will take care to be diverse in subject matter ranging from biology to computer science so all students will have their interests met. These symposiums will likely be held over telecommunication software like Zoom. These meetings will be recorded with the consent of the presenters and posted to a video hosting site like YouTube for asynchronous viewing as well.
360° Lab tours in which students can virtually explore lab research spaces and see what their future careers as researchers may look like. These lab tours will likely be uploaded to a video hosting service like YouTube, and will be a supplementary resource to research symposiums.