Building Undergraduate Life Science Research Skills Remotely, During and Beyond a Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, undergraduate research experiences were deeply impacted--either canceled or pivoted to a range of remote experiences. In Summer 2020 and Spring 2021, we designed two rounds of remote programming aimed to build students' life science research skills and provide opportunities for mentoring and networking. Building skills, resumes, and connections in our students -- many of whom are first-generation college students and/or from historically marginalized communities -- are key to retention in the STEM "leaky pipeline." We created 33 online events including R workshops, journal clubs, and career panels featuring 25 alumni. Participants received a certificate of completion for their resumes and a letter of recommendation, which could be used to apply for future research experiences. Our program was non-selective, flexible, and accessible to all students, while being low-cost to our institution, allowing us to accommodate a sizeable number of students (87 total). This program serves a different purpose than summer internship programs, which are impactful and intensive experiences, but are highly selective and limited in capacity. Through this work, we gained insight into key features of this virtual programming, which could be adapted by other institutions seeking to design programming to prepare students to future undergraduate research experiences.