Northeast Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation

Faculty/Mentors

Mentoring is absolutely critical [in producing competent scientists].
- Dr. Rita R. Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation

Guidelines

Mentor/student relationships are crucial to a student's successful academic development. The support of a student's academic and career pursuit is one of the most fulfilling aspects in academia. Faculty members can participate in NE-LSAMP as mentors by having students research in their labs. This opportunity allows students to initiate and coordinate research projects that further develop their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The following are some mentor guidelines that will help make a good experience:

  • Give your student direction and academic guidance.
  • Have meetings with your student on a regular basis preferably once a week.
  • Assist your student with research papers, proposals and oral or poster presentations.
  • Look over your student's research before it is submitted.
  • Encourage your student to pursue his/her goals and assist with selecting graduate programs suited to her/his academic interests.
  • Discuss the graduate admissions process and the realities of graduate school with your student.

LSAMP programs at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Northeastern University presently have mentor/research programs. If you are a faculty member at these universities, contact the appropriate representatives.

How to Engage Students in Research

by Dr. E. H. Goins *

One day, while I had my office door open listening to the scurry of students making their way to class, an undergraduate knocked on my door and made a rather awkward request.

"Dr. Goins? I'd like to do a research project with you. I'm just a freshman and I don't know much mathematics, but I'd really like to do some kind of research this summer."

Research in mathematics is a difficult undertaking even for those of us with doctorate degrees in the field, let alone for students who barely know differential calculus. However, I was moved by the sincerity of the student: he did not know me--except for the reputation I had gained through the department for encouraging students to do research with faculty--yet he truly wanted to learn more mathematics. I would have to practice what I preached. I agreed to work with the student.

After he left, I began to wonder how to make this summer research a possibility. Where could I find funding? What types of projects are suitable for undergraduates? How much direction should I give the student to make the experience meaningful?

Sources of Funding?

Fortunately for me the project would be in pure mathematics, and the only funding we needed to secure would be a summer stipend. Our campus has a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) which offers $5,000. There is a proposal students must submit in March with an outline of the project. Approximately 500 students from within and without the university apply for funds, and approximately 300 have the proposal approved. Other schools offer a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), where students can apply for "admission" to a university's "research team." One former student of mine who had an REU loved the experience. In fact, he is now applying for graduate school at that university.

What Can Undergraduates Do in Ten Weeks?

In preparation for the funding proposal, the student and I spent days discussing his strengths and weaknesses in order to find an agreeable project. I knew that a research proposal which consisted of reading a research article would have a difficult time being approved. Indeed, this is the typical proposal for research in mathematics, but my goal was to pique the student's interest by giving him a real problem to solve.

The student mentioned that Abstract Algebra and Multivariable Calculus were the main courses he planned to take during the coming year following the summer, so I planned the research project around these courses. My intention was to give the student a problem which would use results he did not currently know but that he would be motivated to learn. I spoke with a few colleagues to help pinpoint a specific research problem, and when I proposed the idea to the student he seemed to be enthusiastic. Of course, the student did not understand the details of the project at first, but he was grateful that he actually had a project.

Good sources for research problems in science are postdoctoral fellows. They have spent the last several years of their life working on a dissertation, and have thought about many short problems to work on over the years. If there are no postdoctoral fellows at your college, perhaps you can approach younger faculty, or find a nearby research-oriented university.

How Much Direction Should I Give?

After we decided where to apply for funding and what to work on for the research project, we had to write the funding proposal. I let the student explain the project in his own words, but I spent nearly two weeks proofreading the document through revision after revision. I felt that the proposal should be taken as seriously as a high-level proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF), not so much because it was difficult to secure funding but because I wanted to expose the student to the culture of the research community. (That same year, I actually helped three students apply for funding. Only a total of fifteen students applied for funding in pure mathematics, yet nine had their proposals approved--all three of mine were among them.)

That summer, I wanted to continue to expose the student to the culture of doing research. Every two weeks, I asked that he give a fifteen-minute talk on a subject which he needed to know for background material. For example, one week he spoke on the existence of finite fields. The goals of these talks were two-fold: to have him practice speaking in front of an audience in order to prepare for his final presentation at the end of the summer, and to make sure he really did know the necessary material to complete the project.

By the end of the summer, we had to write the final report. I had asked that he write up information as we went along - including typing up his notes from the bi-weekly talks - so that he only had to "cut-and-paste" for the final paper. Ironically, we did not have many results, but the paper was more than 30 pages long! We spent a lot of time discussing the format of a scientific paper, including a succinct yet informative abstract, the way the introduction contains a summary of results, and a properly formatted bibliography. The student was grateful that at least he had a collection of notes he could use for his class for the upcoming academic year.

The entire experience was arduous but well worth it. Just recently, the student gave me a gift to say thank you for all my work. I had to tell the student that I was equally appreciative for his patience: I certainly did not have all the answers all the time, but if I did have all the answers it would not be called research!

Other Resources

* Dr. Edray Herber Goins is an instructor of mathematics at the California Institute of Technology located in Pasadena, California. He is the faculty advisor for the Undergraduate Mathematics Club, and has advised several undergraduates through summer research projects and independent reading courses.