I never get tired of watching a rocket launch. Today was especially interesting since we had a pre-dawn rocket launch in Florida. The effect is a view of the rocket that looks like a jelly fish or an alien spacecraft. Think about the science and research behind understanding the sun illuminating on the plume and the scattering effects and every other phenomenon to explain the image captured by so many cameras. Although my exposure to practicing engineers who were my professors was not a formal “research” introduction, the real experiences and challenges incorporated into the classroom decades ago were a big deal and made a difference in my curiosity and continued thirst for advanced degrees. After all, I wanted to know how things work, to take them apart, and to, hopefully, put them back together.

Last year, I wrote about the importance of introducing STEM at the K-12 level, while this editorial focuses on the significance of introducing research to undergraduates. Unlike years ago, when students usually did not get exposure to research until they pursued a Ph.D., today there are numerous initiatives to introduce research to undergraduates.

One of those initiatives is the Opportunity Research Scholars Symposium (ORSS) at Georgia Tech, where I recently gave the keynote speech. ORSS is a program started twenty years ago by a colleague, Dr. Greg Durgin. ORSS is only one program of many in the United States and other countries started by passionate faculty and created to improve retention rates. The results show an improvement in retention, but there are other noteworthy statistics from this investment in research at the undergraduate level. In the last ten years, the program had 50% more women participants than the school’s average and twice as many ORSS participants go on for Ph.D.s compared to the school’s average. I am sure there are other statistics that support its success, not to mention the diversity of skills required for the projects and team building experience. However, that is not the point of this article–I want to emphasize that these and other research-based options do make a difference in outcomes and career paths for the next generation of scientists or engineers.

I was fortunate in my undergraduate program to be exposed to instructors who had industry experience and incorporated their knowledge of what it took to build a widget into the classroom. Keep in mind that, at the time of my undergrad program, the space program was going strong, which made the exposure to science and engineering relevant and on the technology edge. I spent most of my career at Georgia Tech. It was an amazing journey as a grad student, faculty and research staffmember, senior executive as well as many other positions, and a rich career with great colleagues. I also was a reviewer for the papers submitted to ORSS and must admit I was truly amazed at the great work conducted by these undergraduate students, which also included students outside of Georgia Tech. I want to highlight the pivotal role that faculty and industry sponsorship provide by exposing undergraduates to research. Having the exposure to research and understanding how to incorporate research (applied and basic) into the curriculum is powerful.

Hopefully, we will see some of these future researchers as authors, reviewers, and editors for Applied Optics in years to come.