Senior Sequence

Grand Challenges

Grand Challenges & Research Database

Each Grand Challenge (GC) has a dedicated page on the class web site (GC database). The GCs are written by Professor Keith Pezzoli with input from mentors and experts. The GC’s narrative and associated resources (e.g., bibliographies, multimedia, links) provide cutting-edge perspectives of significant research fields, interconnections among these fields, and inspiration to help students define a topic for their project. 

Each Grand Challenge includes a brief introduction of the challenge: Who cares? Why? What types of research are being done in this area? What types of research methods are appropriate to address the topic (e.g., interview, survey, archival analysis, participant observation, ethnography, GIS, etc.). What are the most pressing research needs in this field of inquiry? 

The field study a student decides to do must have empirical data and be connected to some academic body of literature.  A student’s project is doable if they can formulate clear questions and find the data to answer these questions within six months.  Grand Challenges provide scholarly context and suggest topics for research teams. For ease of reference, the Grand Challenges are grouped under 10 Areas of Concentration (AOC). 

Click here to access the Grand Challenges Database:  http://www.seniorsequence.net/index.php/aoc/