On February 22 the section sponsored Mentoring Undergraduate Research, a virtual panel moderated by Donna LaLonde from the American Statistical Association.
The four panelists discussed a variety of topics related to mentoring and supporting undergraduate research programs. Monica Jackson from American University kicked off the event by presenting 10 tips for facilitating successful summer research experiences. Next, Kelly McConville from Harvard University discussed tips for funding undergraduate research and how to offer course-based research experiences. Paul Roback from St. Olaf College presented tips on finding time to mentor undergraduate research and his experience running the Center for Interdisciplinary Research. The presentations concluded with Maria Tackett from Duke University discussing tips on creating productive research experiences and sharing student work.
Event organizers Donna LaLonde and Kelly McConville shared a few thoughts about the event.
What motivated you to organize this event on mentoring undergraduate research?
KM: We are currently working on a grant application focused on supporting summer undergraduate research (UR) experiences. As part of the grant, we are hoping to find ways to foster collaboration and idea sharing in the broader statistics and data science education community. We saw this panel as a great way to get started on building that community.
DL: We have both enjoyed mentoring undergraduate students and have benefited from the support of colleagues, so we wanted to share resources that have helped us. As Kelly said, we want to continue to build this community.
What is something you hope the attendees took away from the event?
KM: I was part of a group that surveyed statistics educators about the perceived benefits and barriers to undergraduate research in statistics. By far the most common barrier was finding the time to mentor undergraduate research . For a lot of people, they saw mentoring undergraduate research as yet another thing to consider adding to their already very full plate. So, I hope attendees were able to take away strategies for finding the time: adding a research-based capstone course to their curriculum, advocating that mentoring undergraduate research should count toward their course load, seeking funding sources for the summer, etc.
DL: I hope folks left the session knowing that there are resources and colleagues who are willing to help.
The recording and slides from the event, along with additional resources on mentoring undergraduate research are available at https://bit.ly/Mentor-UGR.
If you have ideas for future workshops or resources to add to the site, please share them with Donna LaLonde at donnal@amstat.org.
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