Brad,

I very much enjoyed looking over the presentations you identified in your

posting to the CUR-List. I agree wholeheartedly with your advice to those

transitioning to a PUI environment from a research environment. Not only do

we appear to agree on research/teaching philosophy, but we even appear to

share some of the same hobbies(!), e.g., flying. (I own and fly a Grumman

Traveler, and frequently use it to travel to meetings and invited talks

within 300-400 nm.)

At any rate, apart from sending you a note complimenting you on your

excellent advice for those new to the PUI arena, I thought I would share

with you a few other ideas to help undergraduates to be more productive in

the research lab. These are approaches I have used and refined over many

years of supervising biochemistry research students here at Colgate:

1. Not only should a PUI faculty member shamelessly recruit the best an

brightest undergraduates, but one should do so early, even students who are

completing the first year of study. My most productive and happy student

researchers have often started with me after their first or second year, and

return each summer (and sometimes during the academic term as well.) These

students build continuity in the laboratory, and have the best chance to

mature into productive, independent research/thinkers. I have not found

freshman students to be severe handicap in the lab. In fact, my best gene

cloner/molecular biologist right now just completed her freshman year.

2. "Senior" students should be used to train and orient "junior" students in

the research laboratory, under the loose supervision of the faculty

supervisor. I have frequently used returning research students to orient the

newbies. Not only does this free up some of my time, but it also is a

tremendous confidence-builder for the "senior" undergraduates who are

entrusted with an important responsibility. And sometimes peer-to-peer

learning is more effective than mentor-student teaching. I usually have a

spectrum of student in my research lab, from first-years to seniors. It's a

great mix, and I find that students who really like their work recruit next

year's students for me. (And they usually do a great job. They know dirt I

can't find out about what their colleagues are REALLY like in lab.)

3. Consider "pre-training" students prior to summer fellowships. I have had

soon-to-be-graduating seniors train soon-to-be-summer-researchers in April

and May of the ending academic year. Summer fellows get a head start on

their research projects, and I don't have to train them. At our institution,

we can get a limited amount of work-study money for this purpose, sufficient

to pay a student for up to 100 hours a semester. My senior students love the

concept of being the "boss."

4. Strongly consider accepting research students for a minimum one year

commitment (We built this into our senior research requirement.) In my lab

it could take up to 2-3 months to completely expose a student to all the

methodology required to conduct a productive research project, so

semester-long projects inevitably unproductive and wasteful of resources and

time.

5. Consider breaking down the mentality that there is a "minimum time

requirement" for research. This invariably sets up a "time-expended" equals

"satisfactory progress" link that is inappropriate for research. I set

research goals with my students each semester/year/summer, and tell students

that I expect them to spend whatever time is necessary to achieve those

goals. This goes whether or not students are paid, although paid students

are certainly paid by the hour. Periodic group meetings in which students

present progress reports keeps me and everybody else in the lab informed. I

ensure that research goals are attainable (as I can foresee) within a

reasonable average weekly time commitment, but that their actual times in

lab might be quite variable. (Protein prep weeks are hell, my students and I

might work intermittently 12-16 hours in a day; other weeks, its 15 minutes

each day to scale up a bacterial culture or start a PCR reaction.) I make

students comfortable in my laboratory (office furniture if possible, lots of

computers, workspaces) so that it is as you say "a home away from home." I

am sure some of my colleagues think I am crazy, but what I have found is

that my students are in EVERY DAY at least a little while, and they get

bored if there is not something to do on a given day. They work hard enough

most weeks, and plan their time and experiments with me such that they can

schedule "weeks off" for those term paper crunches or mid-term exams. I'm

very flexible as long as my students have a plan, and things progress along.

6. Finally, a PUI faculty member should expect to spend a great deal of time

in the laboratory with students, not just to train them, but to talk science

with them and to provide a role model for how to ethically behave in

science. I also frequently assist students in finishing up work they have

largely completed, or spelling them for an hour or so if they are in class.

This kind of teamwork builds a healthy lab environment, shows students that

you treat them as colleagues and not inferiors.

BTW, have put students on some very challenging protein purification

projects (you have to pick students carefully, for this is an unforgiving

and most frustrating kind of research, as you pointed out) with very good

results. I am forever indebted to two students two years ago who doggedly

worked out meticulous purification and stabilization conditions for our

recombinant protein. They routinely purified and repurified protein until it

mysteriously died, making a little bit of progress each week. I advised and

encouraged them each week, and they never broke down from frustration. When

they finally had it knocked, they were very happy and proud students!

I can only add that the reason I am now an academic rather than an M.D.

is the influence of my undergraduate research advisor, Dr. John Hardman,

now emeritus at the University of Alabama. He yanked me out of his cell

bio class and plopped me in his research lab, complete with personal desk,

laboratory bench, stock of glassware and pipettors, and the all-important

KEY TO THE BUILDING (Soooooooooo cool!). I was hooked, and the

science and group meetings were great, too. If I had only been one of those

really "productive" students then...at least I can return the favor to talented

and interested undergraduates today, and do some real science besides.

I was on sabbatical leave at the NIH just a few years ago, and I was

approached by dozens of aspiring PUI faculty members. It was clear that as a

group they just didn't have a clue as to what the job entailed. It was difficult for

many aspirants to understand the "jack-of-all-trades" requirement of a PUI

faculty member.

Cheers,

____________________________________________

Roger S. Rowlett

Professor

Department of Chemistry

Colgate University

13 Oak Drive

Hamilton, NY 13346

(315)-228-7245

(315)-228-7395

(315)-228-7935 (fax)

rrowlett@mail.colgate.edu

http://departments.colgate.edu/chemistry