Shaping the Undergraduate Research Environment: The Role of the MUSER System in Equity for Undergraduate Research

Presenter: Sophia Deligiannidis

Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Blanchard

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

Session: Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM, Auditorium, A79

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate research and academic opportunities are vital for skill development, yet access is often limited by hidden processes and informal networks that are not available to all students. PROPEL addresses this by creating a more equitable and transparent system through four structured application rounds each year, supported by the MUSER open-source platform built on Drupal. This research project evaluated the impacts of MUSER (mentor to student user) in its effectiveness in making the research application process at UMass Amherst more unified and equitable. Contrasts and comparisons were made with the MUSER/PROPEL system to commonly used recruitment sites at UMass such as Handshake, the University Job Board, and the OURs website to evaluate what is currently being offered to help students apply and get into research labs on campus. Such contrasts revealed that there is no streamlined process to research applications at UMass Amherst, and that the PROPEL program under the MUSER software addresses this gap. The manuscript associated with this project explains how widespread usage of the PROPEL site increases equity across all types of students to get into research labs on a merit-based system, as opposed to the knowledge gap of how to navigate hidden avenues of getting into research (cold emailing, professor outreach, etc). Making opportunities visible and accessible to all students, PROPEL streamlines the application process through a centralized platform, structured timelines, and clear communication ensuring fair and equitable access for all of its users.

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