A team of Western Carolina University students is currently ranked eighth in the nation, but you won’t find that accomplishment in a top 10 list on the sports pages.

Instead, the high rank is an indicator of the undergraduate students’ expertise in conducting research, and of WCU’s commitment to involving those students in research work, says Brian Railsback, dean of the university’s Honors College.

WCU ranks eighth among the nation’s colleges in the number of student abstracts that have been accepted for presentation at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, an annual springtime gathering where undergraduate students from across the country present their best research. A total of 308 colleges are sending students to the conference coming up April 12-14 at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., Railsback said.

Thirty-one student abstracts from WCU were accepted for the conference. That is more than any other school in the University of North Carolina system, and, with the exception of the host school, more than any other California college, Railsback said.

This year is not the first time WCU students have scored big on the undergraduate research scene. They also recorded a top-10 ranking last year, and have been highly ranked several other times in the last decade.

Railsback said the fact that WCU will have more representation at the conference than schools such as Yale, Stanford and UCLA is a result of the quality of the students’ work and the willingness of WCU faculty members to mentor the students in their research.

Traditionally, undergraduate education has taken place in the nation’s college classrooms, while research has been the domain of graduate students and faculty. In recent years, however, many schools have increasingly emphasized research activity for the benefits it provides undergraduates, including getting them more deeply involved in their study areas, Railsback said.

WCU students traveling to the California conference in April have to pay only for transportation to the Asheville Airport and several meals; otherwise, the trip is free for them, Railsback said. At the conference, the students will present their research in front of students and college faculty from across the nation.

“Sometimes the students and faculty ask hard questions. You have to be ready,” Railsback said. “The conference is valuable because it gives our students an opportunity to see how they stack up against their peers.”

Courtney Swarthout, a 2002 graduate of Rabun Gap-Nacoochee High School in Georgia who recently earned undergraduate degrees in communication and political science at Western, says the experience of attending the national conference is “awesome.” Swarthout will be presenting at the April conference for the second time. Both of her undergraduate projects were completed under the guidance of WCU’s political science faculty.

“It’s a great experience,” she said. “It takes you outside your comfort zone. It’s one thing to present a paper in class in front of our friends, and another to speak in front of people you’ve never met who are from some of the most prestigious colleges in the nation.”

The headquarters for undergraduate research on WCU’s campus is the Honors College. The college sponsors an Undergraduate Expo each spring to allow all undergraduates on campus to display their research work. The college’s Undergraduate Projects Grant Program provides grants up to $500 to students who need special supplies or software to complete projects, and to help finance travel related to presentations or research.

The Honors College also publishes Imagine magazine, WCU’s first undergraduate research magazine. Written and edited last year by five freshman Honors College students, the magazine recently won an award in recognition of its quality from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

For more information about undergraduate research at WCU, contact Brian Railsback at (828) 227-2101.