Kansas Research Collective
Our Mission
The mission of the KRC is to foster a research community across the state of Kansas by providing peer mentorship and a platform for students to discuss and showcase their work. We provide two types of support for students:
- We support prospective researchers in their efforts to connect with faculty mentors, develop research questions, and gain insight into the research process.
- We support current researchers in their efforts to improve applications for competitive fellowships, develop conference and campus presentations, and publish their work in peer-reviewed journals.
Upcoming meetings
Our meetings are held in Watson Library at 3pm on Sundays. In each meeting, we will have a short presentation, and the majority of the time will be for you to create, refine, and implement personalized strategies for success. This means that, from each meeting, you can expect to walk away with at least one actionable item that will help you develop your skills and experience as a researcher.
Welcome to KRC: Wednesday, September 2nd | 6-8pm | Watson Library's Kettle
- Meet the Kansas Research Collective ambassadors in a come-and-go event.
- Learn how current researchers found their path to research.
- See personal, demystified versions of what exactly research looks like.
- Create a plan for the semester to get a clear pathway to conducting research.
Finding a Research Mentor & Cold Emailing 101: Sunday, September 13th | 3-4pm | Watson Library's Clark Instruction Center
- Meet current and prospective undergraduate researchers.
- Find what your research interests are and identify faculty you can reach out to.
- Learn how to cold email a professor to find research opportunities & draft emails to your identified faculty.
Becoming a Successful Applicant: Sunday, September 20th | 3-4pm | Watson Library's Clark Instruction Center
- Learn about the many fellowship and scholarship opportunities available.
- Hear from past winners of nationally competitive fellowships about building a successful application.
- Create a personal timeline planning your future funding applications.
- Brainstorm strategies for application materials, demonstrating research fit, and finding mentors.
Methods Roundtable: Sunday, September 27th | 3-4pm | Watson Library's Clark Instruction Center
- Understand various methods for conducting research, analyzing data, and organizing results.
- Hear challenges in various methods and learn how to overcome them.
- Learn how to write a methods section of a paper.
- Brainstorm methodological approaches for your UGRA or other projects.
Office hours
If you have questions about research, please come to office hours with KRC Ambassadors:
- Tuesday 2-4pm in the CURF office (Summerfield 203)
- Wednesday 2-4pm in Nunemaker for help with the Research ELE
- Friday 10am-12pm in the CURF office (Summerfield 203)
- By appointment via GroupMe
Frequently Asked Questions
No matter what your major is, yes! Students of all majors can do research.
To learn about research opportunities in your field, we recommend looking into your department's faculty website to see what research they're working on. Faculty are invested in supporting you, so reach out to them with questions about their work!
For questions about your specific field, please join our GroupMe to meet other students in your field and discuss pathways to research.
When reaching out to potential mentors, you want to come equipped with questions while maintaining open-mindedness to help with their existing projects.
We recommend following these steps:
- Learn about their research from their faculty webpage and Google Scholar. Note whether they manage a lab on campus.
- Identify a theoretical or methodological approach of theirs that is interesting to you.
- Email them to briefly introduce yourself and your interest in their research, and request a meeting.
- In the meeting, discuss their research and ask if they have any open opportunities in a lab or for independent projects.
Make sure you are confident in your abilities and stay open to assisting them however you can!
If you want to learn more about this process, come to our Cold Emailing 101 meeting on Sunday, September 13th.
We provide many types of support for students, no matter their prior research experience (if any).
For new/ prospective researchers:
- Reaching out to potential faculty mentors.
- Coming up with a research question.
- Identifying resources to help you get started.
- Connecting with you with other people who can help you.
For current researchers:
- Finding places to present your research.
- Improving presentations and communication ability.
- Identifying relevant fellowships and research training programs.
- Providing feedback on manuscripts and identifying journals to submit to.
- Helping with applications for graduate school and fellowships.
KRC Ambassadors have navigated these processes before, so we can provide helpful tips and tricks for success in developing your research questions and your academic career.