[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_color=”off” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_stops=”#000000 0%|rgba(13,48,116,0.29) 100%” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_image=”https:\/\/magazine.mcs.cmu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/05\/2023_initiator_outreach_spletzer_martha.jpg” parallax=”on” parallax_method=”off” custom_padding=”1px|||||” box_shadow_style=”preset3″ box_shadow_color=”#192957″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.17.6″ custom_margin=”36px||||false|false” custom_padding=”36px|0px|0|0px|false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Open Sans|800||||on|||” header_text_color=”#E05929″ header_font_size=”48px” header_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||||false|false” animation_style=”slide” header_font_size_tablet=”36px” header_font_size_phone=”30px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_text_shadow_style=”preset2″ header_text_shadow_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_4,1_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_image=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(224,224,224,0.71)” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Graduate students are valued mentors to undergraduate researchers in the Department of Chemistry<\/a><\/span>\u2019s laboratories, often overseeing their day-to-day work.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch mentors provide a very different role than academic advisers or other faculty they are meeting through classes,\u201d said Karen Stump<\/a><\/span>, director of undergraduate studies and a teaching professor, who added that labs can be the place where undergraduates go to do homework or get personal or professional advice. \u201cOver time, the labs become a second home to students.\u201d<\/p>\n Associate Chemistry Professor Stefanie Sydlik<\/span><\/a>, whose research career began as an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon, now leads a research team that specilaizes in the design and synthesis of novel polymers and graphenic materials for use in biomedical and human health applications. The Sydlik Group<\/span><\/a> currently has nine undergraduate researchers \u2014 an all-time high for her lab.<\/p>\n \u201cThey outnumber the graduate students. But they are a really important part of my group culture,\u201d Sydlik said. \u201cAll of my graduate students have an undergraduate who they\u2019ve worked with, and most have co-authored papers with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Graduate students in Sydlik\u2019s lab begin mentoring their second year. One of the first to do so was Karoline Eckhart.<\/p>\n Eckhart, who finished her Ph.D. in 2022 and is now a senior scientist at L\u2019Oreal, set up a system where students train each other, a technique she learned as an undergraduate at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you were a junior or senior in the lab, you would train the freshmen and sophomores who were coming in and get them up to speed on a project. Our adviser would help us all design experiments and support the older students teaching the younger students,\u201d Eckhart said.<\/p>\n Eckhart started training two undergraduate students in her second year of graduate school. The following year she took on a third student, until she had four or five working at a time.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any additional resources toward me for taking on undergraduates, but I was in a lucky position not many CMU graduate students have,\u201d said Eckhart, whose research was supported by an NSF grant, which meant after her first year, she was relieved of teaching assistant responsibilities. \u201cI wasn\u2019t devoting 12 hours of my week to teach. If there could be some kind of financial support from the university, I feel like more grad students would be willing to take undergraduates.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(202,213,237,0.3)” sticky_position=”top” sticky_offset_top=”20px” sticky_limit_bottom=”row” motion_trigger_start=”bottom” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_testimonial author=”Karoline Eckhart” quote_icon_color=”#192957″ quote_icon_background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” body_font=”||on||||||” body_text_align=”center” body_text_color=”#000000″ body_font_size=”16px” body_line_height=”1.4em” author_font=”|600|||||||” author_text_color=”#000000″ author_line_height=”1.2em” background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” text_orientation=”right” border_color_all=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n If there could be some kind of support, I feel like more grad students would be willing to take undergraduates.<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/magazine.mcs.cmu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/05\/2023_initiator_outreach_spletzer_martha.jpg” alt=”Martha Spletzer and Jared Paris in the lab” title_text=”Martha Spletzer and Jared Paris” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” animation_style=”fade” animation_duration=”1250ms” border_radii=”off|40px||40px|” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||on||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_shadow_style=”preset1″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Martha Spletzer works with Jared Paris to synthesize enzymes.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ make_equal=”on” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_image=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(202,213,237,0.3)” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(224,224,224,0.71)” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Among Eckhart\u2019s mentees is Anna Watson, who joined Sydlik\u2019s lab at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic during her junior year. She started working with Eckhart on procedures, but by the end she was designing experiments and troubleshooting. She also served as first author on a paper.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving tried to mentor a student myself, I have come to understand that it takes a large amount of organization,\u201d said Watson, who stayed in Sydlik\u2019s lab to complete her master\u2019s degree in 2022 and is now a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. \u201cI truly admire how good of a mentor she was to be able to manage all of us and be highly productive. She was very good at ramping the responsibility I had.\u201d<\/p>\n Terry Collins<\/span><\/a> is the Teresa Heinz Professor in Green Chemistry and the director of the Institute for Green Science<\/span><\/a>. His group currently comprises Aleksandr Ryabov, a research associate; four graduate students and four undergraduates who work on catalysts, known as TAMLs, that provide environmentally friendly methods for breaking down toxic compounds that contaminate water.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s healthy in every way to have undergraduates in research, and the critical thing in how you do that lies with mentors,\u201d Collins said. \u201cThey\u2019re learning from us the most important problems.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Collins Group, undergraduates start with simple instrumentation then progress to data analysis, more complex machinery, presenting findings at the team\u2019s weekly meetings and writing papers. Checks and balances are in place to assure the data is within standard deviations. Frequently students will begin to conduct their own research supported by funding through Carnegie Mellon\u2019s Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Development.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had phenomenal success,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n Parameswar Pal, a doctoral candidate in his group, had just joined Collins\u2019 lab when Minerva Schafer, now a junior in chemistry, also joined the group.<\/p>\n \u201cWe learned together about the chemicals and instruments in the lab, and I helped her learn some of the techniques,\u201d said Pal, who currently oversees two undergraduate students. \u201cMentoring takes a significant time when students are new. For the initial part, I provide them a project. But once they gain experience, they propose new interesting ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n