An innovative program has been developed at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) that unites the dual missions of every university: research and teaching. This revolutionary program allows faculty to harness the creativity and ingenuity of their youngest undergraduate students and gives students an early entry point into the world of research. Students participating in the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) engage in an authentic research experience during their first year at the university, while earning introductory laboratory course credit. FRI students learn both basic and advanced laboratory techniques, allowing them to start conducting original independent research by the end of their first year at UT. The FRI program has successfully increased student interest in science, retained more students within the College of Natural Sciences, and lead to more than a hundred student-authored scientific publications since its inception in 2005. Here we will show how both general chemistry laboratory skills and advanced techniques can be taught through a variety of research topics, to the benefit of both students and faculty. There are currently 27 active FRI research groups, but we will focus on three chemistry streams � one organic, one analytical and one biochemical � and three different skills � UV-Vis spectroscopy, synthesis, and characterization � to demonstrate how an introductory chemistry lab can be adapted to fit various research disciplines. We will also present data showing the benefits of the FRI program for students in their later course work and the benefit to faculty in terms of research publications.

Teaching through research: Revolutionizing the freshman experience

247th National Meeting (2014)

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