Cultivating Graduate Students: Techniques to Inspire Effective Research
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Cultivating Graduate Students: Techniques to Inspire Effective Research David Braun1, Linda Vanasupa2, Blair London2, Kevin Kingsbury3, Heather Smith4 1 Electrical Engineering Department, 2Materials Engineering Department, 3 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 4Statistics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Each year, U.S. institutions grant well over 10,000 bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering. However, only a small fraction of those students pursue graduate study. Many who do often experience great difficulty partly due to a lack of preparation for research: the nature of research is inherently foreign to those who are accustomed to studying course material and demonstrating their mastery of it by passing an exam. Carefully involving undergraduates in research can be an effective means for inspiring students to pursue graduate study. We have found that one can create a positive research experience for the student by implementing simple techniques. In this presentation, we present these practical techniques which include: Defining a manageable undergraduate research project; marketing the project to undergraduates; enabling effective record keeping in laboratory notebooks; focussing and directing research through efficient experimental designs. Along with these techniques, we will present examples—taken mainly from our Polymer Electronics Laboratory. We will also present the inherent pitfalls associated with these techniques. INTRODUCTION About a third of the students who begin doctorate degree programs in materials science and engineering do not complete their programs. Although we are not aware of a formal study that documents the reasons for attrition, past students often report that graduate study is “not what [they] expected.” Many students expect graduate study to be a continuation of the undergraduate experience. This often involves mastering a series of concepts in order to pass a test. The test results provide immediate and concrete feedback on their performance. The test problems often have clear solutions. On the other hand, graduate research is focused on conducting tests (i.e., experiments) in order to study a problem. The solutions are neither clear nor close-ended, with few immediate indications of the success of one’s work. This clearly builds a set of inaccurate expectations into the undergraduate about graduate study. We feel that simulating the graduate experience for the undergraduate is a means of ensuring their success and informing their decisions to pursue (or not to purse) graduate research. Many institutions have created summer research programs under the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation that serve to provide “simulated” research experiences. As a primarily undergraduate institution, we have to market research projects actively to encourage students to participate in REU’s and other research. However, we have found a means to involve students in undergra
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