Provost, graduates highlight impact of undergraduate research at conference

As a first-generation college student, Nkrumah Grant, ’14, did not expect opportunities to explore undergraduate research. 

“I had no framework for what research was. I thought research was out of my reach,” Grant said. 

That changed when he took part in a biological research project by collecting cattails as an undergraduate — an experience that sparked a journey leading to his current role as an assistant professor of microbiological research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“I will say that without the undergraduate research experience I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to even go to graduate school,” Grant said. 

Grant was one of three GVSU graduates to join Jennifer Drake, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, for the opening plenary session at the Council on Undergraduate Research’s ConnectUR conference held June 16 in Grand Rapids. The trio of graduates highlighted how undergraduate research shaped their academic and professional trajectories.

“For students, the opportunity to do research as an undergraduate can be profoundly life changing,” Drake said. “It can be the first time someone says, ‘Your ideas matter, and you belong here.’

“Undergraduate research builds confidence. It builds capacity. It nurtures curiosity and critical thinking and it helps students move from learning about the world to engaging with it and shaping it.”

The Council on Undergraduate Research supports this mission by fostering innovative practices that promote meaningful research experiences. Over the three-day conference, participants will engage in professional development, explore innovative practices and collaborate with their peers on strategies to strengthen research programs at their institutions.

Delia Fernández-Jones, ’10, associate professor of history at Michigan State University, and Landon Hughes, ’14, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, also joined the panel and emphasized the importance of the mentorship they received from GVSU faculty as well as contributing to impactful research in the community.

Hughes credited sociology professor Rachel Campbell with guiding him toward his current career path through community-engaged research. Hughes said their work together focused on housing reinvestment in Grand Rapids.

“It takes mentors who believe in you and spend so much effort alongside you,” Hughes said. “It’s hours of helping you shape your research questions and engage with you.

“I was very fortunate to have somebody who saw something in me and took time out of her professional life to mentor me. Now, I’m trying to pay that forward to the students I have.”

That faculty-student mentorship is a keystone of the undergraduate research experience at Grand Valley, said Susan Mendoza, director of the Center for Undergraduate Scholar Engagement. Signature events such as Student Scholars Day and the Summer Scholars Program are vital to that mission. Student Scholars Day will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2026.

This year, more than 500 students participated in Student Scholars Day. In July, students in the Summer Scholars Program will present their research to faculty and peers.

Founded in 2010, the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship creates and supports programs that support student-driven, faculty-support research and creative inquiry.

“I was also a first-generation college student, trying to find my place in the world at the time,” Hughes said. “Undergraduate research set me on a path that was not possible for me. It really changed my life.”