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A guide to mentoring undergraduates in the lab

Nature Nanotechnology volume 8, pages 784–786 (2013)Cite this article

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Mentoring undergraduates in a research laboratory requires a different set of skills and approaches than for other lab members. However, if a mentor — be it a faculty member, postdoc or graduate student — can adopt these methods, it can lead to a significantly improved lab experience for everyone involved.

In a typical research group at a research-intensive university, a faculty member will lead a team of researchers that consists of postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and undergraduate students. Postdocs and graduate students are — by virtue of their self-selection, training and maturity — on average, more autonomous, productive and prepared than undergraduate students. With graduate students, for example, the primary role of the mentor is often to set large-scale goals, offer brief technical training and then provide occasional course-correction. With undergraduates, research training is far more detailed and didactic — and thus more time consuming. A significant undergraduate research project can, however, be the formative scientific experience of a student's career. Even if, like most undergraduate researchers, they are not destined to be scientists, providing students with a realistic conception of the joys and pains of research is likely to be of considerable value to society. The experience can also act as a filter; it is better for a student to discover as an undergraduate that scientific research — be it in general or the particular kind practiced in your lab — is not for them, rather than making this discovery after committing to a graduate degree.

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  1. Philip S. Lukeman is in the Department of Chemistry, St. John's University, Queens, New York 11439, USA,

    Philip S. Lukeman

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Correspondence to Philip S. Lukeman.

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Lukeman, P. A guide to mentoring undergraduates in the lab. Nature Nanotech 8, 784–786 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.237

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