QUIP-RS History

QUIP-RS History and Goals

The history of the program began in 1992 when Dr. Joan Bombace, Professor of Psychology, introduced the Interdisciplinary Research program (IDR) to promote student scholarship at Quinnipiac. Dr. Bombace was a strong believer in students “learning by doing”, and in students viewing their worlds in an interdisciplinary manner. Later, in 2000, Dr. Allan Smits, Professor of Biology, introduced a sister program in the sciences, called the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF). Eventually, Dr. Bombace and Dr. Smits decided to merge the 2 programs in 2006 and name it the Quinnipiac University Program for Research and Scholarship (QUIP-RS). A program that originally grew from students working in their own labs grew to a campus-wide program that now involves students and faculty mentors from diverse disciplines across all colleges of the university.

QUIP-RS is now a well-established and recognized summer research program for Quinnipiac University students that emphasizes how research is done across the academic disciplines, and how research forms the basis for ever-day decisions necessary for informed citizens. Every year students participate in sponsored research for 8 weeks in the summer and present their findings in front of their peers, family and community at the QUIP-RS symposium in the fall. The symposium is held every fall as a memorial to Dr. Bombace (who passed away in 2013) and as testament to her commitment to undergraduate student research. As stated in the QUIP-RS application, the goals of QUIP-RS remain the following:

To provide “hands on” training in research methodology alongside an experienced faculty member that will lead to an independent study on a research topic. This training will help define inductive and deductive reasoning skills, leading to independent thinking and the ability to 1) recognize problems, 2) ask the “right” questions, 3) make the abstract concrete, 4) generate possible solutions, 5) recognize possible flaws in each solution, 6) determine the best solutions through analysis of relevant variables, 7) develop creativity skills in their discipline and 8) consider the moral and ethical concerns of the research topic. The research experience is coupled with a high degree of interaction between all faculty and student participants, creating a rich interdisciplinary venue that brings focus to the meaning of being a lifelong scholar.

The QUIP-RS committee and the sponsored research are represented by faculty from across different schools at Quinnipiac – thereby maintaining the vision of interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

– Dr. Allan Smits, Biological Sciences, 3/5/2020

For more information about the QUIP-RS program, including how to APPLY and for EXAMPLES OF STUDENT RESEARCH FROM PREVIOUS SYMPOSIA, click here