When I was a sophomore in college, one of my professors invited me to join his research team. I eagerly joined and was soon in the mix with a dozen undergraduate and graduate students using an archive of local newspaper articles from the late 1960s to better understand the social movements of that era. The experience was transformative for me. I not only learned how to do research, but I also learned that research could be a deeply social undertaking. Knowing that all of us on the team were pulling in the same direction made the work more meaningful—and more fun.

I worked on that research team for the rest of my time in college, and because of that experience, I went right on to graduate school. Between then and now, as I completed a PhD program and became a faculty member at the O’Neill School, that initial research team experience was always in the back of my mind. I hoped I would have the opportunity to make something like that happen again.

Now, nearly thirty years after I joined that research team as an undergraduate, I’m happy to say we’ve found that opportunity. Over the last several years, the Observing Civic Engagement Lab has grown to be the research team I’ve long imagined—and more. The OCE Lab now includes more than 50 people—undergraduates, master’s students, PhD students, a post-doctoral fellow, faculty, and community residents in four locations scattered throughout the US. All these people are working in the same direction as we try to better understand what goes on in civil society.

In doing so, they’re doing good science—and they’re doing it in ways that are meaningful and fun. It is a true joy to be a part of, just as it was before.

And who knows—maybe thirty years from now one of our many lab members will have a chance to build this kind of team. If we’ve done our job well now, when that opportunity arises, I think they’ll take it.

Dr. Matthew Baggetta
Professor, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs