Dr. McAlpine and her mentor group
out to pizza.
Clockwise: Julia, Lidia, Lisa, Kelley,
Shelli, Savannah, & Ali

  My goal in this program is to provide guidance and counseling for undergraduates who would like to explore research in the sciences and to help them find a lab that fits their needs.  The program is for the entire year and students will earn research credit (up to 5 units during the course of the year) that can be applied towards their degree.  It will require 15-20hrs/week over the course of the 2 semesters, and may require commitment of some weekends and evenings, although the work hours will be flexible and arranged by mutual agreement between you and your lab mentor.  All eligible and interested students should contact me, and we will discuss your needs, long-term goals, and current time commitments.  In the first half of the program (~10 weeks) students will meet with me twice a week, once individually and once with the other students in the program.  During those meetings we will have discussions centering around topics including: what defines research, what are your life goals, how to be successful during your research interviews, what do you want from a research experience, which faculty would meet your needs, why did other students choose specific labs and did they make the right choice?  Students will then choose approximately 6 faculty to contact and will discuss research opportunities with those 6 faculty and their students.  They will then start research (end of Fall semester) with their chosen faculty mentor.   After selecting their mentor they will continue participating in our group discussions, and will give us a literature presentation on their new project. 

During the spring semester students will be heavily involved in their research lab, and their commitments to meeting with the group will be only once/week.  In this second half of the program students will provide weekly updates on their research progress by generating lists of weekly goals and completed goals from the previous week.  In addition, they will discuss their group, the dynamics, and how they feel about the research and lab experience.  Finally students will end the year by giving a presentation on their work, and discussing what they learned over the year. 

We are looking for students who are very interested in research, who feel excited about the prospect of learning the fundamentals behind the sciences, and are attracted to the idea of facilitating the development of new knowledge in their field. All students interested in pursuing research in chemistry, biology, or physics are welcome to apply regardless of their academic level (i.e freshman, sophomores, etc).  Given that research is extremely challenging, and is significantly more demanding than any course work, successful students bring with them a fundamental curiosity, drive, and energy to succeed.  Without these qualities students will not be able to survive in a lab because there is no manual and no “correct’ answer.  Indeed it is often difficult to determine if your results are what you expected or are simply an experimental error.  This means that students must: be tenacious, determined to understand their results, have a compelling desire to comprehend their data, and appreciate the complexities of work that has never been done before.  Students are expected to commit a minimum of 15 hrs/week to their research lab and this program, where the exact amount of time will vary depending on the experiments.  This includes time to be spent meeting with me, the mentoring group, background work on choosing a group, preparing presentations, research group meetings, and working in the lab.  At the end of this year students will have a fundamental understanding of their field, and will be able to answer questions relating to their area of expertise including: what is basic research? how do you identify core research questions? what is the language used by those in your field? How does your work fit in with that of others? Students then have the option of continuing their research through the summer and providing support for the next generation of students coming into the program.  Thus, overall this program will give you an understanding of the joy and excitement experienced by researchers, and provide a view into the exhilarating world of scientific discovery.