Assistant Professor St. Francis Xavier University Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Many avenues into research favour the bold. For example, undergraduate students who want to do an Honours research project must usually approach prospective supervisors, a process that can be daunting to many, including students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Many students at our primarily undergraduate institution conduct Honours research full-time in the summer before their final year, a system that closes doors for those that cannot afford to live on or near our rural campus year-round. At our institution, we have started two different initiatives to widen recruitment into research: a non-credit series of workshops and activities to help students connect with prospective supervisors, and a 3-credit (one semester) third-year “Biology Research Experience” course during the regular academic year. In this talk, we will share our experience with these approaches and their relative effectiveness at recruiting students into research.