Students launch undergrad journal
Javier Marquez

In the world of academia, “publish or perish” is the mantra by which careers live or die. Such a mindset is most pervasive in the upper echelons of academia that Caltech inhabits. This need has encompassed nearly every level of research.

Generally, investigators submit their research findings in the form of sober, technical papers to journals like Science and Nature. The reputation of these journals is nonpareil, and having their editors select one’s submission is a definite career coup. It confers status on scientists, enhances their reputations outside their home institutions, and affirms the worth of their research.

This reward system has not gone unnoticed by the youngest researchers. The pressure to publish is no longer restricted to researchers, graduate students, and postdocs—the community that is essentially obligated to publicize its work. Now undergraduates are feeling the pressure as well.

In response, as well as from the desire to produce a publication that is both enlightening and entertaining, a group of students has founded the Caltech Undergraduate Research Journal, whose inaugural issue premieres this week.

“Caltech has an enormous undergraduate research program. It’s fitting that Caltech also have a premier undergraduate research journal,” said Lakshminarayan “Ram” Srinivasan, CURJ’s indefatigable editor-in-chief. “The journal can give them a perspective of what other undergrads are doing in the labs and foster a culture of undergraduate research.”

A junior majoring in electronic and computer engineering, Srinivasan, along with a cadre of like-minded students at Caltech and the Art Center College of Design, decided that there was a need among his fellow undergraduates for a professional and widely distributed outlet for their research.

Because of the nature of undergraduate life, with its required courses and heavy workload, most students must wait for the summer break to join an ongoing lab experiment. Although they can also dedicate a few hours to it every week during the school term, their accomplishments on a longitudinal study, although important, are limited.

“The students’ research may not be immediately publishable in a mainstream journal because of its restricted scope,” Srinivasan said. “CURJ can act as a conduit for undergrads to show their work and its scientific context. Our journal is there to highlight the best work that undergrads are producing with a style that is engaging to the casual reader.”

Before he started, Srinivasan did some research—forensics, as he called it—into the research journals produced by students at other colleges, including Harvard’s Journal of Undergraduate Sciences, MIT’s Undergraduate Research Journal, and the online Journal of Young Investigators. He decided that accessible writing and production values would make CURJ stand out.

“We’ve placed a great emphasis on production quality,” he said. Art Center College of Design student Aniko Hullner Grau, whose work as art director represents her senior thesis, developed the distinctive CURJ logo, design, and layout. The pages are eye-catching and professional, a far cry from the unfortunate term-paper look and clumsy design of many student publications, and some professional ones.

Above all, Srinivasan emphasized that the journal would have a broad appeal that extends beyond the research community and students. The selected articles will emphasize good writing and attractive design. In fact, the journal will most resemble an art magazine. The CURJ staff will also launch a Web version of the journal, which can be viewed at www.curj.caltech.edu/.

Although the first issue’s printing is on a limited scale—the first run totals under 4,000 copies—free copies will be distributed throughout Caltech and JPL, as well as UCLA, MIT and other universities that encourage undergraduate research. As is true with Science and Nature, publication in CURJ will be a feather in the author’s cap.

“It’s a bonus if you publish as an undergrad. It shows that you have research potential,” Srinivasan said. “However, the main idea is not to further careers but to cultivate a culture of research.”

The CURJ staff comprises about 16 undergraduates from Caltech and Art Center, who worked in teams in charge of content and of online and print publication. Several nonstudents served as advisors, including Carolyn Merkel and Ryan Tischler of the student-faculty programs office; Gillian Pierce, the coordinator of Caltech’s undergraduate science writing requirement; and Steve Madden, the graphics advisor at Art Center.

Srinavasan added that many people contributed to the creation of CURJ. Content editors Mike Russo and Robb Rutledge led the creation of the journal’s written style, and online editors Jonathan Dama, Dylan Simon, and Robert Christy engineered the online publication.
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