In the summer, Ph.D. student Detelina Stoyanova received an intriguing email message from the Division of Undergraduate Studies. “The message said there were undergraduate students available to help with a research project, and I’m collaborating on some research that is in the data collection stage. The timing was perfect.” Stoyanova wrote a description of her project and the work the students would do, then posted it on the site. After the application period closed, she selected two of the three students she interviewed to collect data for her research.

Stoyanova’s project is an effort to expand and update an existing dataset that has been compiled in collaboration with researchers at Duke University. If successful, the data collected will dramatically enhance the ability of researchers to analyze hedge fund activism, and has the potential for producing impactful research with important policy-related implications.

The students collect data from a list of online sources and manually refine it. Afterward, the data will be analyzed by Stoyanova and her collaborators but the students will be allowed to participate in the analysis. The students will work on Stoyanova’s project 10 – 15 hours each week for at least two semesters, but may work longer.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program is a program that encourages high-achieving underclassmen to serve as research assistants for faculty and graduate students. In addition to the research project, UROP students attend a year-long research colloquium and present their work in the Spring. SC faculty Tomasz Plewa and graduate student Olmo Zavala Romero are utilizing the UROP program as well.

For more information on the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement, go to http://cre.fsu.edu.