Preparing graduate students and undergraduates for interdisciplinary research

Abstract

Colleges and universities need to provide students with training and experience in (a) interdisciplinary research, (b) the fuzzy areas of responsible conduct of research, and (c) the mentor-mentee relationship. We developed workshops that combine the three content objectives-interdisciplinary research, responsible conduct of research, and mentor-mentee relationship, therefore promoting explicit reflection on how these topics relate. To provide students with the same framework for their subsequent research collaboration, we conducted the workshops in parallel for the graduate mentors and their undergraduate mentees. For each of the sessions in the workshop for the graduate mentors, the graduate students reported overall gains in their skill levels of 21%, 24%, and 23% for interdisciplinary research, responsible conduct of research, and mentoring skills, respectively. For each of the sessions in the undergraduate workshop, the undergraduates reported overall gains in their skill levels of 33%, 27%, and 31% for interdisciplinary research, responsible conduct of research, and mentee skills, respectively.