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Friday Focus: Research is rooted in wonder

March 7, 2025

— By  Laura Conner, interim vice chancellor for research

There is a lot going on in the world at the moment. The current federal landscape suggests that there will be changes to the research enterprise — but just what the scope and impact of those changes will be remains unclear. As we look toward planning our path forward in this changing environment, I find it helpful to reflect on the reasons we do research in the first place. Looking to your roots is a grounding experience, and one that can inform the future.

I am an educational researcher with academic roots in biology — my Ph.D. is in the field of behavioral ecology. But the academic choices I made that led to that degree are in turn the product of much deeper roots. Growing up in a working-class family and as a first-generation student, getting a Ph.D. was not exactly on my radar. What set me on this path initially was a foundational connection to the outdoors, rooted in part in emotion. I remember, for instance, the sense of wonder I felt the first time my father drew my attention to a deer grazing in our suburban backyard, and how this feeling increased my interest in the natural world. Further outdoor experiences over time cemented this connection. Much later, as an undergraduate student unsure of my major, I had the foundational experience of learning about endosymbiosis, the theory that much of life as we know it today originated through a process of tiny organisms engulfing others and becoming interdependent over time. This idea blew my mind. I decided to major in biology, and I continued down that path.

While not everyone will have the same reaction when thinking about endosymbiosis, the educational research literature suggests that these kinds of emotional experiences often guide career choices. In particular, we know that experiencing a sense of awe, or the related emotion wonder, has a unique role in both science learning and the pursuit of a science career. Wonder is powerful in learning because it has the ability to make us aware of the gaps in our knowledge — and it often inspires a desire to learn more. Importantly, what is awe inspiring to one person might not be to another. How we experience emotions such as awe and wonder is in part related to our prior experiences, culture, interests, and worldviews, just as these factors influence the act of learning itself.

This is highly relevant to our research enterprise here at UAF, whether we are talking about biology, history, or any of the other dozens of disciplines we pursue. I would hazard a guess that most researchers had some kind of foundational awe experience at some point in their lives that helped guide them towards the pursuit of their current research area. The educational research literature urges researchers to pass on these deep connections to discipline, showing ����ӰƬ how to not only think like researchers, but how to feel like researchers. Faculty can engage in this work by setting the “wonder” table with a rich menu of choices, and each student, with their unique blend of background and experiences, will take up what is offered in ways that might inspire them to learn more or take an idea further. And this, essentially, is the root of all research. The urge to learn more, to uncover truths about the world, to better the human condition, and to solve real world problems that affect us all. I have confidence that we will continue to engage in this fundamental work regardless of how things change. I look forward to working with you to define our future pathway.

Friday Focus is written by a different member of UAF’s leadership team every week.