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Intro to Undergrad Resarch: NSF S-STEM Cohort

Utah Valley University

This course section is entirely online. All assignments, quizzes, and exams will be turned in and taken on Canvas. My preferred contact method is our group Slack channel.

Course overview:

Week 1 - Getting to know the program and mentors

Topics:

  • Biology research mentors’ presentations
  • Getting to know your cohort
  • Logistics and expectations of S-STEM program

Assignments:

  • Watch all mentor introduction videos (Links in the mentor choice form, below)
  • Group discussion and Q/A session online
  • Turn in your ranked mentor choice form on Canvas
  • Read this short paper for discussion

Resources

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Week 2 - What makes for good mentorship

Topics:

  • Expectations for advisors and advisees
  • What to look for in an advisor

Assignments:

  • begin lab rotations (2 weeks per lab, 5 labs)
  • it’s up to you to make the most of your time with each research mentor
  • stay in touch

Resources

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Week 3 - effective time management

Topics:

  • Fitting research into academics
  • Work-life balance
  • Mental health
  • Imposter syndrome and other cognitive snags

Assignments:

  • Create a time budget that makes room for classes, work, family, research, and staring into the existential void
  • Take care of yourself
  • Keep in touch with your lab rotation activities and email your next mentor

Resources

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Week 4 - issues facing underrepresented scholars

Topics:

  • Racial, gender, and sexual-orientation biases
  • Finding and fixing our own biases
  • How to be part of the solution
  • Discussion with Jazmine Benjamin (PhD student at U Alabama, Birmingham)
  • Discussion with Dr. Faye Smith (Postdoc at USDA/ARS)

Assignments:

  • Read all of the pieces below in the resources section (video is optional if you’re time-crunched, but it’s interesting)
  • Group video chat
  • Turn in a reflection piece on your place within these issues
  • Don’t forget about your research duties; Ask your mentor useful questions to see if the lab is a good fit.

Resources

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Week 5 - applying for funding

Topics:

  • Internal funding opportunities at UVU
  • Application processes

Assignments:

  • Check out the resources below
  • Identify a funding source you’d like to try for and make a timeline for applying

Resources

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Week 6 - how to read a scientific paper

Topics:

  • Research reports / reviews / editorials
  • Following the backwards citation trail
  • Critical evaluation

Assignments:

  • Find the following paper in full:

Walker, R. S., Gurven, M., Burger, O., & Hamilton, M. J. (2008). The trade-off between number and size of offspring in humans and other primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1636), 827–834.

  • Follow a citation trail backwards for at least 5 statements you found interesting in the paper
  • Compile a document with the bibliographies of the previous works and the quoted relevant sections

Resources

  • Your best friend for finding papers: google scholar
  • An illegal way to get papers you don’t have access to is SciHub (I would never advocate this behavior though)
  • Types of scholarly publications
  • Don’t forget about pre-prints

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Week 7 - how to find gaps in knowledge

Topics:

  • Using the library
  • Literature reviews
  • Managing references with Zotero

Assignments:

  • Download Zotero
  • Use it to collect 20 peer-reviewed articles on a topic of your choice
  • Create a bibliography in the format required by the journal “Nature”

Resources

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Week 8 - experimental design

Topics:

  • Principles and types
  • Qualitative, quantitative, how we “know”
  • Observational vs manipulated
  • Inductive and deductive reasoning

Assignments:

  • Bring your research ideas to group discussions
  • Go through the resources below well enough to follow a discussion as we design experiments together

Resources

  • Short primer on designs
  • Much longer, but much more thorough, intro to design
  • Inductive vs deductive reasoning

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Week 9 - realities of research

Topics:

  • Keeping a lab notebook
  • Reproducibility
  • Adapting to inevitable failure

Assignments:

Resources

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Week 10 - the publication process

Topics:

  • Writing science
  • Selecting an appropriate journal
  • Peer review process

Assignments:

  • Find 3 journals that you would like to eventually submit a manuscript to
  • Find their “author information” pages

Resources

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Week 11 - giving effective presentations

Topics:

  • Types of presentations
  • Poster design
  • Telling a storylogistics and expectations of S-STEM program
  • Logistics tips and tricks

Assignments:

  • Go through the resources below
  • Check out the previous cohort posters
  • Find the worst scientific poster of all time - show it to us in our group chat

Resources

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Week 12 - getting the most out of a conference

Topics:

  • Finding a conference
  • The art of “abstract projection”
  • What goes on at a Typical conference
  • How to network

Assignments:

  • Finish lab rotations / select research mentor
  • Sign mentorship agreement documents
  • Discuss relevant conferences with your mentor

Resources

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Week 13 - how to build and prepare an effective CV

Topics:

  • Effective use of social media
  • Web presence
  • What goes on a CV

Assignments:

  • Look through the resources to see undergrad CV examples
  • Track down the CVs of 3 scientists who’s work interests you. What do they have in common? What’s unique?
  • Upload and share your CV on Slack
  • Peer-review of each others’ CVs
  • work with mentor to select research topic

Resources

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Week 14 - Thanksgiving Break

Topics:

  • Stuffing vs mashed potatoes
  • How to bring up science with your crazy “5G-towers-are-causing-coronavirus” aunt
  • How to avoid your racist uncle

Assignments:

  • annotated literature review of research topic (due at end of break)

Resources

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Week 15 - next steps

Topics:

  • Getting the most from the S-STEM program
  • Setting goals
  • Building a support network of collaborators and allies

Assignments:

  • develop research plans with your mentor and work on your poster







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Week 16 - presenting your research plan

Assignments:

  • Poster session in SB atrium online




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