In 2010 student leaders began advocating for three initiatives to support undergraduate research and creative work— an annual conference, a student-edited journal, and a dedicated office. They approached Karen Sprague, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies, who shared their excitement about undergraduate research. First, Vice Provost Sprague wanted to find out how other universities were developing these areas, so I was asked to investigate the undergraduate research programs of the 62 universities that belong to the Association of American Universities (AAU). I found that 49 institutions hosted an annual undergraduate research conference, 31 sponsored a university-wide undergraduate research journal, and 59 had a dedicated undergraduate research office.
