Smith Undergraduate Research Fellows

Twenty-two students participated in last semester’s launch of Smith Research Fellows, a new program for undergraduates which allows them to partner with faculty members pursuing research projects. Students learn through the research process, participate in data collection and compilation, modeling, presentation and other tasks under faculty supervision while earning a stipend for their efforts.

The Fellows worked on a variety of projects, including:

• writing white papers on the state of electronic markets in various industries
• gathering data for a study that examined the self-serving bias as it affects auditors’ beliefs about tradeoffs between retaining audit clients versus improving audit quality
• testing and demonstrating auction mechanisms for a variety of applications including industrial and government procurement, real-time ticket sales for sporting events, allocation of landing/take-off slots at airports
• gathering data about private security offerings by public firms
• collection, coding, organization, and analysis of detailed data about patents, and corresponding data about the companies that use them for research on the changing nature of intellectual property
• managing the distribution of the survey instruments, collecting of survey instruments and coding and inputting of data for a study of the motor carrier industry's adoption of information technology to manage safety performance
• Web-based coding and analysis of data regarding how young startup ventures in the biotech

sector evolve

Smith Research Fellows is part of the new Smith Undergraduate Fellows Program. The Fellows program consists of groups of specialized tracks that cut across academic majors, so that all Smith School undergraduates can participate in an intimate small-school environment while enjoying the options and opportunities only a large school can provide.

Fall 2006 will see the launch of several new Fellows tracks, including International Fellows and Entrepreneurship Fellows. International Fellows will be admitted with double majors in business and foreign language study, and will participate in dedicated study abroad trips, international clubs, events and subsidized travel. Entrepreneurship Fellows will a provide a four course track in entrepreneurship, including a funded business plan competition and special activities with the school’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship aimed at product, service and business creation. The Smith Undergraduate Fellows program enjoys strong cross-campus support and has received major funding from the University of Maryland administration and from Smith School alumni.