Encouraging Undergraduate Research: A Mentor’s Guide

1. Encouraging Undergraduate Research: A Mentor’s Guide Larry Aaronson Utica College

2. The Issues • Recruiting undergraduate researchers • Care and feeding of undergraduate researchers • Maintaining a student research program with limited space and resources • Mentorship of undergraduate researchers as an asset in faculty development • External support for undergraduate research

3. Recruiting Undergraduate Researchers • Start small • Simple, realistic goals • Talk about your research in class • You are cordially invited… • Never say “no”…well, almost never! • “Show me the money!” • Grab them when they’re young • Let students do the recruiting

4. Care and Feeding of Undergraduate Researchers • Give them a home • “It’s not what we say…” • Show them, watch them, then let them run • “There are no stupid questions.” • “Did anyone get hurt?” • Classes come first

5. Care and Feeding of Undergraduate Researchers • Lab meetings • Write it down…write it up! • Road trip!

6. Maintaining a Research Program with Limited Resources • Sustainable research • Dual-use reagents and equipment • Collaborations

7. Mentoring Student Research and Faculty Development • Institutional acculturation • “But you’re the last author on the paper!”

8. External Support for Undergraduate Research • NIH AREA grants • NSF RUI grants • Sigma Xi grants • ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program

9. Questions & Discussion