Students in the University Honors Program have created a new research journal that will explore the reflective and personal stories behind undergraduate research being conducted at N.C. State.
According to Jamie Yannayon, editor in chief of The Journal of Reflective Inquiry, the journal is chaired by an editorial staff of eight students and will be a periodical publication once in print.
JORI is the brainchild of Aaron Stoller, associate director of UHP, who envisioned a student-run journal that would comment about the research process, Yannayon said.
“JORI is unconventional in the sense that we’re looking more for the research process than publishing research results.” said Kate Mueller, assistant content editor for JORI and a sophomore in civil engineering.
According to Yannayon, JORI is accepting submissions on a rolling basis from now until the end of May, the goal being to publish its first edition this October.
Yannayon said JORI is an undergraduate research journal run exclusively by undergraduates.
“JORI serves a forum for researchers to publish reflective articles about their research about what it’s like to be a researcher, what it’s like to do research, how they got started doing research,” Yannayon said.
Yannayon said JORI also aims to break barriers between different disciplines and allow researchers of various disciplines to communicate with each other.
JORI’s outreach is meant to provide those interested in research the platform to hear about the research occurring in different fields and allow readers to find their own research opportunities, Yannayon said.
However, the mission behind JORI wasn’t always clear, and the editorial board is still working to define what JORI will entail, according to Micah Khater, content editor for JORI and a senior in history and French.
“Aaron Stoller made a call for an editorial board, and we had no idea what it was,” Khater said. “Jamie [Yannayon], myself, Courtney Vaughn and Ben [Markoch], the design editor, all embarked on this lovely journey together.”
Khater said in its first year, the staff worked together to form its vision and define the role of the journal.
Under the guidance of Vaughn, former editor in chief and senior in human biology and sociology, JORI transformed from an idea into a fledgling journal.
According to Yannayon, Vaughn took a class with Stoller on academic publishing, and she now serves as a consultant for the journal to help preserve its original vision.
Ben Markoch, design and technology editor of the journal and junior in graphic design, said he created JORI’s image, as well as the web site, from the ground up.
Markoch said he was inspired ”to show people that JORI was a journal that was a little bit newer, a little less hard and straight, a little more translucent.”
From this group of four founding members, JORI has expanded and hired three new editors: Mueller, William Crumpler, a junior in materials science and engineering, and Kristen Bagley, a junior in zoology. Crumpler, managing editor for the journal, said the new editors had to submit a resume, a statement of interest and a writing sample in addition to conducting an interview.
“I like how this project has the potential to be very personal,” Bagley said. “Most of the time with scientific writing, you don’t really get to see the emotional side of the research process.”
