FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Graduate programs and college students face many of the same problems when seeking one another: How to make the best match possible so that all parties can engage in interesting research. A new database housed at the University of Arkansas may make it easier to match potential graduate students with university researchers.

The University of Arkansas graduate school will host the graduate student recruiting database on its Web site. The database will be on a secure site where potential graduate students can enter their grade information and research interests and faculty from any interested institution in the United States can find students with interests that match their research programs.

"One of the things that is difficult in graduate education is to match up students with faculty," said Patricia Koski, associate dean of the graduate school. "There isn’t any central clearing house where faculty can go and say 'I need a student with these interests.’"

Traditionally, students and faculty have relied on word-of-mouth for recruiting students-a method that limits students to their advisor’s circle of colleagues, Koski points out. Graduate schools also send out posters to advertise their programs, then wait to hear from students.

"That requires that applicants know where they should go," said Douglas Rhoads, professor of biological sciences and creator of the database. And most students don’t know the range of options available to them, he said.

The database could help diversity efforts at universities by putting students in contact with a broader range of faculty. Also, students who remain uncertain about their research interests can potentially benefit from learning about many different faculty research programs.

"Students often don’t know what kind of research faculty are doing," Koski said.

Potential graduate students can access the site online at http://www.uark.edu/depts/gradinfo/minutes/CandidateDatabase.html.

They will enter their name, contact information, references, grade point average, areas of interest and a 2,500-word personal statement into a password protected database.

This offers enough information for a researcher to know if he or she wants to contact the student, Rhoads said.

Graduate institutions can request a password into the database and can download the database as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Researchers will obtain the spreadsheet file through their graduate office. They can search the database by areas of interest, student information and personal statement.

Universities interested in participating should have their graduate program director or dean write to Koski’s office at 119 Ozark Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark., 72701, on university letterhead to arrange for an ID and request a password for access to the site.

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