Success

LSU HHMI Mentors participate in a series of four courses designed to facilitate greater undergraduate success in the STEM areas:

UC0050 Introduction to Mentoring, Education, and Research (2) F For students in HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars Program only. Not for degree credit. Pass-no credit grading. Course focuses on introducing students to college success tools, including learning strategies, time management, and organization. Students will be mentored as they are prepared to become effective mentors and researchers.

This course is the first in a series of four designed to increase STEM students' college success and train them as mentors and researchers. The students will obtain new learning strategies and put them to use in their other courses. They will learn about their learning styles and how to adapt to an instructor's teaching style. They will learn basic research skills, like how to conduct a literature search and how to keep an effective lab notebook. They will be mentored by upper-level students, as well as viewing research presentations by students involved in undergraduate research. The students' Success Journal Entries will help them to adjust to college and to the resources and requirements of the HHMI Professors Program and LA-STEM Research Scholars Program. The Learning Strategies Project will help the students to utilize their new learning strategies most effectively. The Mentoring Paper that the students complete in this course will consist of their research and reflections on mentoring from their current position as mentees, which will help them to become effective mentors in the following semesters.

UC0060 Pursuing Mentoring, Education, and Research (2) S For students in HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars Program only. Not for degree credit. Prereq: UC0050. Pass-no credit grading. Students continue to implement the college success tools gained in UC0050 and learn about research. During this course, the students begin a service-learning project mentoring high school students and continue to be mentored.

In this second course in the series, students will continue to perfect their learning strategies and develop new ones specific to their learning styles. Using metacognitive strategies, they will assess and modify their academic performance. The students will meet with high school mentees several times during the semester, passing on the knowledge they have gained about learning strategies and styles. They will continue to be mentored by upper-level students and to view research presentations. The students will continue to prepare for research, learning what to expect in their first year of research and about research ethics. The Success Journal Entries will help the students track their progress from the time they entered the program. The Mentoring Plans, Mentoring Journals, and Mentoring Paper will enable the students to learn about themselves as mentors and to reflect on their mentoring experiences, an essential part of successful service-learning. By completing the Graduate School Portfolio, students will gain a basic knowledge of graduate school application requirements, including the GRE, and will investigate a few programs in their fields. They will also search for and apply to summer research programs, giving them practice in the application process, as well as the potential for improving their graduate school candidacy through research experience.

UC0070 Success in Mentoring, Education, and Research (2) F For students in HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars Program only. Not for degree credit. Prereq: UC0060. Pass-no credit grading. Students expand their mentoring projects, continuing to meet with high school mentees and also engaging in peer mentoring.

For this course, the focus is on mentoring and research. Students will continue their meetings with the high school mentees and begin mentoring new undergraduates in the program. This will be most students' first semester conducting research, and the course will provide support for any problems that they encounter, as well as reinforcing what students have learned about research etiquette and ethics. Though learning strategies will still be a topic, the course will focus on teaching learning strategies and styles in a mentoring context. The Success Journal Entries will help students remain focused on their own progress as students during a semester where their roles as mentors and researchers are emphasized. The Research Reports are necessary to keep track of students' research projects and identify potential problems early. If, for some reason, a student at this stage is not involved with research, another related assignment will be substituted. Students' Mentoring Reports will track the development of mentoring relationships with high school mentees and other program participants. The Mentoring Journals and Mentoring Paper completed in this course should show the reflections of seasoned mentors.

UC0080 Advancing in Mentoring, Education, and Research (1) F, S For students in HHMI Professors Program or LA-STEM Research Scholars Program only. Not for degree credit. Prereq: UC0070. May be taken for a max. of 3 sem. hrs. Pass-no credit grading. Advanced independent mentoring, research presentation skills, and focused graduate school preparation.

In the final course in the series, students will take on leadership roles as mentors and researchers. The students improve their presentation skills and share their experiences with less advanced students through the Research Presentations. The Research Reports will keep the programs updated on students' research projects and help to identify potential problems early. The Mentoring Journals and Mentoring Paper will continue to develop the students' mentoring and reflective skills. For each semester that the students complete these projects, they will focus on a different aspect of mentoring. The Graduate School Portfolio will aid students in exploring their options for graduate school; increasing their qualifications through awards, scholarships, and research projects; and presenting their unique experiences in effective graduate school applications. For each semester that the students complete this project, they will collect more information about graduate school and will work on developing different parts of their applications. In later semesters, part of the Graduate School Portfolio project will be producing a research paper suitable for publication in an undergraduate science journal.