Program Provides Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Students

Each scholar is mentored during the program by a faculty member. In addition, scholars will have regular contact with a graduate student, post-doctoral fellow, medical resident, clinical fellow and/or research staff member during the entire period of their program.

Students also attend a career development center series, where they learn about career and academic paths they could potentially pursue.

“Each of the students gets paired up with a mentor and spends 10 weeks doing research in their lab,” Gillette said. “In the career development center series, we talk about each of our professional programs, what it takes to get in, what it’s like and we meet with current students, staff and faculty.”
Participating students are encouraged (but not required) to partake in cohort building activities, including white water rafting, ice skating, rock climbing and hiking.
Gillette said these activities often show the students that they can do hard things, especially when they have each other.

“It’s all about building confidence and having the students help each other. When you really rely on each other for things, team building is taken to a whole other level,” she said. “They really mesh and build a cohort of this incredibly diverse fabric of students from all across the country and it’s beautiful to watch.”
Students are also able to participate in resume writing, poster creating and interview practice sessions. At the end of the summer, each scholar has an opportunity to present their research project at the program’s competitive poster symposium.

“We want to provide students with these ‘softer skills’ for when they move on to whatever it is that they move onto,” Gillette said.

Gillette said the passion for this program comes from her own experiences. Having grown up in rural Appalachia with a coal miner father, she said was fortunate enough to participate in a very similar program when she was an undergraduate student.

“If it wasn’t for a program like this when I was in college, I wouldn’t have even known what research was,” she said. “Having that exposure and meeting students from other places and realizing the opportunities that are available to you, it’s really eye-opening.”