University of Michigan-Flint

The Meeting of Minds Journal of Undergraduate Research is specifically designed to offer undergraduate students the opportunity to experience the manuscript submission and review process. Students who participate in the Meeting of Minds conference are invited to submit a written version of their presentation to the Journal Review Board for publication in the volume which corresponds to the presentation year. The initial volume published in 1998 incorporated submitted papers from the inception of the conference through the past year (i.e., 1993-1998). This volume presents papers from the seventeenth annual conference held at the University of Michigan-Flint in May 2010. 

The articles in this journal represent the work of undergraduate students, each with the assistance of a faculty mentor. The authors are all undergraduate students. The faculty mentor is clearly listed at the beginning of each paper, as is the academic unit and institution. 
This journal represents the culmination of many years of experience in the collaboration process between three undergraduate universities in Michigan. It also represents a strong personal commitment of many individual faculty members to undergraduate research and creative endeavors. 

The Meeting of Minds conference and this journal are a shared responsibility between the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the University of Michigan-Flint, and Oakland University. Each university accepts the responsibility to host the conference and subsequently to publish the journal on a rotating basis. The order of the responsibility follows the subsequent pattern: the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2009, the University of Michigan-Flint in 2010, and Oakland University in 2011. 

Manuscript Guidelines: Students’ papers were to be submitted in MS Word or a pre-approved format determined by the student, faculty sponsor, and the MOM Editorial Board. The text of all manuscripts was to be no more than 10 double-spaced pages typed in 10-12 point font size with one-inch margins. Images and graphs were to be incorporated into the text where possible. The instructions for preparing the manuscript are provided by the designated editor for a particular volume. Completed “Permission to Publish” and “Faculty Mentor’s Approval” forms must also be included with the manuscript. These forms are available to students with the conference registration materials. The Editorial Board reviews submissions for documentation and compliance with manuscript guidelines. The authors are ultimately responsible for the content, information, and any interpretation within the manuscripts. Manuscripts accepted for publication become the property of the Journal Editorial Board. For each of the accepted manuscripts, a single complimentary electronic copy of the published journal is given to each author and faculty sponsor. Electronic copies of the journal are also available on the Meeting of Minds websites of each of the partnering institutions.