The IDEA Center: Where research begins

By Sydney Seidel 

Blog Content Contributor

Are you looking for career-boosting extracurriculars to enhance your resume? Are you interested in participating in faculty-mentored research or creative expression projects but need help knowing where to begin? You need look no further than the Innovation, Discovery, Exploration and Analysis (IDEA) Center located in Alkek 133A. 

The IDEA Center was created as part of the university’s most recent Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Texas State, along with many other institutions in the nation, has an opportunity to devise a new QEP every few years as part of the accreditation process with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). 

“When it comes time to identify the new theme [for QEP], universities are invited to come together and plan on how they can enhance the undergraduate educational experience,” said the director of the IDEA Center Dr. Peter Golato. “The theme that the university settled on in 2017 was undergraduate research.” 

Following the selection of the theme of undergraduate research, the university created the IDEA Center so that students could have the opportunity to engage in faculty-mentored research and creative expression. To that end, the IDEA Center offers students numerous professional development workshops along with personalized assistance in finding and applying for fellowships available for their studies. 

The program also offers coursework designed to help students understand how new knowledge is created in different fields. Lastly, it helps them identify faculty mentors who will work with them to complete and publicly present a research or creative expression project in their majors. 

At the IDEA Center Undergraduate Research Forum on Friday, student Alex Franklin was able to share his experience with the program. 

“For every one question asked, five more questions open up,” said Franklin when speaking about his time spent working on his research project “The Effects of Temperature on COVID-19 Cases: Evidence from a Large Panel of U.S. Counties.” 

Franklin, who originally wanted to study how different prions affected Mad Cow Disease, said he realized quickly how unlikely it would be for him to get his hands on prions given how deadly they are. Despite this, Franklin decided he was still interested in seeing how different diseases affected society and thus turned his attention to COVID-19. He then found mentorship in Dr. Mohammed Ahmed and began his research. 

Students who are interested in getting involved with the IDEA Center are required to first register for RES 3399, which teaches first-hand about research and research ethics and helps students formulate their own research/creative questions. Once completed, students are then able to register for RES 4399, an independent study in which students either contribute to a faculty member’s research or engage in an independent project under the supervision of a faculty member. 

When asked if students of any major were able to take part in the program, Dr. Golato had this to say. 

“You can come to us as any major because in that sense we are student-driven,” said the director. “While most of our students have come from the STEM disciplines, you could come to us as a fine arts major and we would then sit down with you and work with you and help you reach out to a faculty member in fine arts. It really doesn’t matter what department students come from; we are eager to work with all students.” 

Undergraduates who are interested in embarking on their research journey, visit the IDEA Center page to learn about the benefits of the program. Students should also visit the Upcoming Events page to learn about the many opportunities that the center offers including workshops, guest speakers and more.