Heidi Valmonte is among hundreds of students who have participated in the Undergraduate Biology Research Program at the University of Arizona.

News stories about higher education often depict research and teaching as being in conflict, with undergraduates vying for time that professors prefer to devote to scientific work. But some large research universities are showing that research and education can not only co-exist but thrive together, with undergraduates receiving the same personal attention and hands-on experience found on smaller campuses.

Impossible? Not at the University of Arizona, which has developed a system to involve hundreds of undergraduates each year in challenging research projects through its Undergraduate Biology Research Program. The students work in the laboratories of more than 200 faculty members from 43 departments. Since the program began in 1988, students researchers have co-authored more than 250 papers and participated in more than 280 presentations at professional meetings. Many students also have done research abroad related to their investigations at Arizona. See: http://www.blc.arizona.edu/ubrp/.

The popularity of the program has contributed to an 84 percent increase in the number of biology majors at the university between 1990 and 1996. It also has helped retain women and minorities in biology; nearly a quarter of the students in the program are minorities underrepresented in the sciences.

The program started small but grew rapidly. Faculty members, who pay half of the undergraduates' stipends from their own research grants, recognized that even first-year students could be valuable members of a research team. They also saw that participants came to class better prepared and more engaged.

National recognition of the program has made the University of Arizona a model for effective undergraduate biology education. Through the creative use of technology, information about the university's introductory biology curriculum, student Web pages and other topics is being shared worldwide. See: http://www.blc.arizona.edu/.

The University of Arizona is not alone. With support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, other universities have taken similar steps to unify education and research. Some examples:

• Through its Biology Fellows Program, the University of California, Berkeley, has provided awards to more than 200 undergraduates to do independent research projects in the summer and during the academic year.

• At Lehigh University, the Hughes Honor Program features a full year of research for seniors, capped by a senior thesis. Over the past three years, all 60 of the honor students have entered graduate or medical schools.

• A program at Georgetown University provides a group of leading biology students with close faculty mentoring and laboratory research opportunities in university science departments and at the medical school.

• The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor provides intensive laboratory experiences for sophomores and juniors, following up on a successful research program for first-year students.

• At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all biology students must complete independent research projects or a project laboratory.

Photo: Maria Schuchardt