Duke’s Research Scholars Program, which connects undergraduate students to research mentors, has drawn both high praise and criticism from its participants.
Currently in its fourth semester, the Research Scholars Program selects 20 undergraduates each year from a pool of nearly 200 applicants and matches them with mentors—professors or graduate students, mostly in the sciences. Students in the program participate in lab research and assist mentors with their projects over the course of a semester. At the end of the program, they may choose to continue with their project or move on to other labs and fields of research. Despite the opportunities provided through the program, poor matches and lackluster work have left certain mentees wanting.
“Basically, the goal of RSP is to look at students who are motivated and eager to get into wet lab research and connect them with mentors who have expressed an interest in taking on undergraduates,” said junior Akhil Sharma, RSP administrator and a former participant. “We try to build a relationship where both the mentor is happy, and the student is learning.”
Since its establishment in 2011, the program has drawn polarized reactions from its participants—with some scholars lauding the program and other scholars expressing dissatisfaction. Still others claimed the middle ground and described their experiences as unexceptional, but useful for getting into other labs.
Students’ complaints have ranged from research interest mismatch during the initial selection process to dissatisfaction with the work they were given during the course of the program.
“I didn’t list cell biology at all, but I got put into a cell biology lab,” said sophomore Kevin Do who participated in the program this year. “I got really lucky. What if I was unlucky and I hated cell biology?”
The program sends student applications to professors and graduate students who have expressed interest in becoming mentors. Based on an applicant’s strengths, experience and interests, the mentors then choose four to six students to interview and ultimately select one or two with whom to collaborate. Through the interview process, the Research Scholars Program hopes to maximize student-mentor compatibility.
Approximately 12 or 13 mentors working in a variety of fields offer to participate in the program each year. On the program application, however, there are 18 fields of interest listed. As a result, students often end up working in fields of research in which they are not sufficiently interested. One scholar majoring in biomedical engineering ended up working in a psychology lab, while anowwther scholar who had expressed an interest in cell biology was put into an evolutionary biology lab.
Sharma noted that there was a lack of mentors available and said that the program was trying to increase the variety of fields participants can explore through RSP.
“A lot of times, you see a lot of interest by students in terms of say, I want to do biology research or I want to do research in medicine,” he said. “But we can’t obviously offer everybody a spot in those areas, unless we have enough mentors. So a problem we’ve had is a lot of students applying for research in the same fields, and we’re only able to accommodate a few of them.”
Participants often did not know that they had the option of expressing mismatch dissatisfaction to program administrators without losing their spot in the program. Sharma added that even though the program would try to find a better match for these students, there was no guarantee that they would be accommodated.
Other students have expressed dissatisfaction regarding the type of work they were given during the program, describing it as “monotonous” or “menial”.
“For me, going into the lab during the RSP, it felt like a chore, and I hated that,” sophomore Keizra Mecklai said. “It taught me that I didn’t like research because I thought it was a chore. It didn’t feel like I had any ownership.”
In response to these complaints, Do criticized other program participants for not being more proactive and putting more outside time into their research.
“One of the big differences is willingness to read outside,” he said. “I mean, as undergrads, you probably don’t know the specialty your [principal investigator] works in. If you don’t mind doing boring stuff all day, that’s great. If you’re interested in doing high level science, then you have to be willing to read outside, and I feel like a lot of people aren’t doing that.”
RSP administrator Emma Fridel, a senior, said that many of the tasks which some scholars perceived as tedious are an ordinary part of every lab.
“Your PI washes dishes,” she said. “At the end of the day, somebody is going to have to do the menial work, and if you’re not doing it, your mentor’s doing it.”
Despite the criticism it has drawn from certain participants, RSP has also garnered praise.
“I highly recommend the program,” said senior Melissa Day who still works in the lab she was matched with through RSP.
Many of those who expressed mixed or negative reactions to the program recommended it as a launchpad for evaluating interests or finding positions in better-suited labs. After the program, scholars who did not continue in their assigned labs said they found it easier to get lab work in other fields with some lab experience on their resumes.
“A lot of us weren’t working in stuff we’d have chosen,” sophomore Kaustav Shah said. “But it’s still a good experience, working in a lab. It’s good for all of us to get our feet wet.”
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