Beginning this spring 2025 semester, the L&S Honors program will debut a new series titled “Research @ Washburn.” This series was created by L&S Honors Director Daniel Kapust. He describes the series as, “four different faculty and student panel discussions, during which honors students will have the opportunity to learn about what research looks like within different areas of study: the humanities, the social sciences, the biological and natural sciences, and the physical and natural sciences.”
Director Kapust decided to create this series, “to give our students the chance to hear from and speak with faculty and undergraduate students about what research looks like within different areas of study so that they can start thinking earlier in their academic careers about what sorts of research opportunities exist, when and how to go about pursuing them, and what doing research entails, from a practical perspective.” He emphasizes that this research series is “part of our work in honors to facilitate student academic engagement and research, in addition to providing opportunities to develop skills that will serve students after they graduate. We in honors are committed to helping our students develop intellectually and academically, and this is a great way for us to pursue this goal.”
He advises that students should come and engage in the series if, “they’re thinking [or are unsure] about pursuing independent research, especially thesis projects… They should also come if they’re interested in learning about how to design research, how to ask research questions, and how to carry out research that they’ve designed or helped to design.”
Research @ Washburn will take place in the Washburn Observatory Library (1401 Observatory Dr.), from 5:30pm to 7pm on the following Wednesdays:
- March 12 – Encountering Humanities
- March 19 – Encountering Social Sciences
- April 09 – Encountering Biological Sciences
- April 23 – Encountering Physical Sciences