LAUSR

Mentored undergraduate research experiences have been identified as beneficial to students for persistence in STEM disciplines and increased grade point averages. Participation in research is impactful for both STEM and non-STEM students. Additionally, undergraduate research experiences have a positive effect on subsequent student performance in graduate and professional school as evidenced by students with previous research experience having superior communication skills at the start of their first year and after. Undergraduate research courses tend to be heavily hands-on experiences and structured classroom teaching may not be large portions of the course content. Online material has become increasingly common in the post COVID-19 learning environment. Courses that can have difficulty with online instruction or the inclusion of online content tend to be courses with a heavy focus of hands-on learning or hands-on skill development. The use of a flipped classroom can facilitate student learning in a digital way in addition to in person class meeting. The incorporation of online lecture content to broaden undergraduate student understanding of the application of the scientific method was used to enhance the research experience. Student experiences were evaluated with the Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment survey. Significant positive correlation was found between student feelings of “project responsibility” and “Workshops on science writing and presentation” during the semester that online lectures were incorporated. Additionally, graduate student training is a variable and highly individualized experience for each trainee. Most programs focus strongly on cognitive skill training, advanced knowledge of the discipline, conducting research, and preparing manuscripts for publication. Professional development is a component of graduate training that can be easily overlooked or undervalued. The development of soft skills such as time management, personnel management, and leadership and mentoring qualities are vital for trainee success post-graduation. Some current thinking is that devoting time to professional development will result in a slower progression by the trainee, however this is shown to be untrue and students who participate in career growth maintained the same level of productivity measured by time to degree completion and manuscript output. Graduate student experiences with mentoring undergraduates were shown to develop soft skills while also being noted as “an influential experience” when making future career decisions. Development of an undergraduate research program that incorporates more than simply hands on skill development that also significantly incorporates graduate students benefits both student groups and leads to improved outcomes for both student groups post-graduation.