This chapter examines undergraduate research (UR) from student, faculty, and institutional perspectives. We explore UR implementation models in community colleges, discuss selected examples of practice, present a summary of lessons learned, and make recommendations to advance UR and its early execution into the college curriculum from a holistic perspective.

Undergraduates who participate in research experiences are more likely to persist as majors and pursue careers in STEM fields. Traditional undergraduate research experiences often involve field or lab work, which can be costly or have participation barriers for some students. Large, publicly available online datasets provide an alternative. This article provides a case study of how one such large database, the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), has been leveraged in two ways to support the engagement of students in undergraduate research experiences. First, the authors report on inquiry-based PBDB activities embedded within introductory science courses and participating students’ perceptions about research and interest in research ( n = 264). Second, they report how the PBDB has been used to support independent research experiences across 19 institutions and share implications.

The Paleobiology Database (PBDB; paleobiodb.org) is a cyberinfrastructural initiative that compiles data on all types of fossils, across all of geologic time, around the world, and encompassing the entire tree of life. It was originally constructed to help researchers answer the "big picture" questions about the evolution of life on earth and the relationship of the evolution of life to geological processes. A team of researchers and educators is now leveraging this vast resource of fossil data to teach undergraduate students about these same processes and relationships, effectively teaching some essential paleontological concepts without reference to fossil objects themselves. These lesson plans are being made freely available to all, and in addition, the team has constructed a Resource Uploader to allow anyone who has developed lesson plans, research experiences, and other educational resources using the Paleobiology Database to share them with the world on the PBDB web site. It is hoped that this will broaden the study of paleontology to 2 year and 4 year undergraduate institutions that do not currently have fossil collections of their own and to enrich paleontologic learning for those that do. Lesson plans currently available and those under development are being assessed to determine how they affect student attitudes to undergraduate research using large scale databases. 
 1George Mason University (VA), 2William & Mary (VA), 3High Point University (NC), 4Northern Virginia Community College (VA); 5Thomas Nelson Community College (VA), 6Eastern Michigan University (MI) Mark D. Uhen1, Rowan Lockwood2, Christian O. George3, Callan Bentley4, Peter J. Berquist5, Laura A. Lukes1, Katherine Ryker6 Above: An example of a PBDB Navigator map generated by students to show the distribution of the fossil seed fern Glossopteris using today’s geography, and the geography of the Permian, when the plant lived. Conclusions Preliminary data from instructors using the PBDB research activities designed by the team as well as data from students who have used these activities show that the activities effectively convey the ideas being presented, and they also demonstrate to students that large datasets about fossils can be useful for research. Students who are shown how to use the PBDB report that they would use the PBDB to answer research questions about fossils in the future.

The conventional view that the basement of the southern and central Appalachians represents juvenile Mesoproterozoic crust, the final stage of growth of Laurentia prior to Grenville collision, has recently been challenged. New whole-rock Pb and Sm-Nd isotopic data are presented from Mesoproterozoic basement in the southern and central Appalachians and the Granite-Rhyolite province, as well as one new U-Pb zircon age from the Granite-Rhyolite province. These data, combined with existing data from Mesoproterozoic terranes throughout southeastern Laurentia, further substantiate recent suggestions that the southern and central Appalachian basement is exotic with respect to Laurentia.Sm-Nd isotopic compositions of most rocks from the southern and central Appalachian basement are consistent with progressive growth through reworking of the adjacent Granite-Rhyolite province. However, Pb isotopic data, including new analyses from important regions not sampled in previous studies, do not correspond with Pb isotopic compositions of any adjacent crust. The most distinct ages and isotopic compositions in the southern and central Appalachian basement come from the Roan Mountain area, eastern Tennesseewestern North Carolina. The data set indicates U-Pb zircon ages up to 1.8 Ga for igneous rocks, inherited and detrital zircon ages >2.0 Ga, Sm-Nd depleted mantle model (T-DM) ages >2.0 Ga, and the most elevated Pb-207/Pb-204 observed in southeastern Laurentia.The combined U-Pb geochronologic and Sm-Nd and Pb isotopic data preclude derivation of southern and central Appalachian basement from any nearby crustal material and demonstrate that Grenville age crust in southeastern Laurentia is exotic and probably was transferred during collision and assembly of Rodinia. These new data better define the boundary between the exotic southern and central Appalachian basement and adjacent Laurentian Granite-Rhyolite province.

The Mars Hill terrane (MHT), a lithologically diverse belt exposed between Roan Mountain, North Carolina-Tennessee, and Asheville, North Carolina, is distinct in age, metamorphic history, and protoliths from the structurally overlying Eastern Blue Ridge and underlying Western Blue Ridge. MHT lithologies include diverse granitic gneisses, abundant mafic and sparse ultramafic bodies, and mildly to strongly aluminous paragneisses. These lithologies experienced metamorphism in the granulite facies and are intimately interspersed on cm to km scale, reflecting both intrusive and tectonic juxtaposition.Previous analyses of zircons by high-resolution ion microprobe verified the presence of Paleoproterozoic orthogneiss (1.8 Ga). New data document a major magmatic event at 1.20 Ga. Inherited and detrital zircons ranging in age from 1.3 to 1.9 Ga ( plus a single 2.7 Ga core), ubiquitous Sm-Nd depleted mantle model ages ca. 2.0 Ga, and strongly negative epsilon(Nd) during Mesoproterozoic time all attest to the pre-Grenville heritage of this crust that was suggested by previous whole-rock Pb and Rb-Sr isotope studies. A single garnet amphibolite yielded a magmatic age of 0.73 Ga, equivalent to the Bakersville dike swarm, which cuts both the MHT and the adjacent Western Blue Ridge. Zircons from this sample display 0.47 Ga metamorphic rims. Zircons from all other samples have well-developed ca. 1.0 Ga metamorphic rims that date granulite-facies metamorphism. Silica contents of analyzed samples range from 45 to 76 wt%, reflecting the extreme diversity observed in the field and the highly variable protoliths.The MHT contrasts strikingly with basement of the adjacent Eastern and Western Blue Ridge, which comprise relatively homogeneous, 1.1 to 1.2 Ga granitic rocks with initial epsilon(Nd) values near 0. It appears to have more in common with distant Paleo-proterozoic crustal terranes in the Great Lakes region, the southwestern United States, and South America.