2 Mentor Resources

Carrie T. Bishop

2021-07-22

2.1 Resources for effective mentorships/partnerships

Developed by Dr. Carly Sjogren, 2021

Toolkit for Undergraduate Research Mentorships

Form 1: Goal Setting

Form 2: Undergraduate Input

Form 3: Mentor Feedback

Form 4: Research Evaluation

2.2 Necessary Trainings

Several trainings are required for students to be in lab. These can be completed online through CU Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S). Each module will be followed by a short quiz to certify the student in the course and must be completed within 6 months of starting lab work. Depending on the type of work, other trainings may be required, and can be found at EH&S Trainings.

  • General Biosafety Training
  • Lab Safety and Hazardous Waste Generator Training

Students will also need to be trained for the equipment they will be using. In general, this will consist of the graduate student/post-doc currently in charge of the equipment to train and acknowledge the student can work independently or with supervision on that equipment. The following tools must always be used with graduate student supervision, including but not limited to:

  • Confocal Microscope and Operetta
  • Plasma Cleaner
  • HPLC

Additionally, there are multiple resources for sterile cell culture guidelines, media, and other protocols that can be found in the Anseth Group Shared GoogleDrive. Please ask the current site owner to share these resources.

2.3 Opportunities for Undergraduate Funding

Students may choose to use their participation in the Anseth lab for class-credit, or apply for grants/hourly pay through numerous campus organizations. Some non-CU affiliated grants exist as well, but will not be discussed here.

If a student chooses to apply their research for class-credit, they should contact their advisor for current information and limits to this. In the CHBE/CHEN program, they can contact Deb Renshaw () or their current academic advisor. Students can register for Independent Study projects (CHEN 2840, 3840, or 4840) and commit to a minimum of 9 hours of research work per week for 3 credits, and additionally will require a cumulative report/paper and recommended presentation. These projects will need Dr. Anseth’s approval/support to proceed. Senior Thesis is another un-paid option to obtain class credit, and require students to have above a 3.50 GPA (technical elective credit) or above a 3.70 major GPA (replace CHEN 4130 or 4810). These projects should be submitted to the student’s academic advisor the spring preceding the student’s senior year. Again, Dr. Anseth is a big part of this process. These opportunities are described more in-depth here (CU Undergraduate Opportunities).

If a student does not want to volunteer or use their research for credit, they can apply for paid programs or grants. Some programs will assign students to mentors/labs based on interests, with preference given to requested students in most cases - however, this is not guaranteed. Students with a mentor/project who wish to apply for funding can look into the Biological Sciences Initiative (BSI), Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), or contact their academic advisor for new programs. These projects generally are awarded for either the academic year or summer, and applications will be due in March (for summer opportunities) and August (for academic year), but are a few months before proposed work begins.

If the student is open to other funding opportunities or labs, the Discovery Learning Apprenticeship (DLA, due mid-April), NIST-PREP, CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (CU-SPUR), Your Own Undergraduate Research (YOU’, applications due in December for spring work), STEM Routes, and Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program all offer other student funding opportunities. Not all of these programs guarantee the student will be placed within the Anseth Lab with a requested mentor.

2.4 Undergraduate Course Schedules:

2.4.1 Chemical & Biological Engineering / Chemical Engineering:

At CU Boulder, the first three years for Chemical & Biological Engineering and Chemical Engineering are very similar with a few modifications (shown as : (CHBE course) OR (CHEN course)). Grouped by year, technical courses are listed below for a general idea of where a student is in their degree and what concepts may be familiar/unfamiliar to them. As a general rule, most topics specific to the Anseth Lab and many common lab practices/statistical analyses will be unfamiliar to most students until the third year. Beginning the first year, Excel, MATLAB, and Mathematica are the most common programs used in classes.

First Year:

  • Calculus
  • General Chemistry + Lab
  • Biology for Engineers (more general than biology for majors courses)
  • Physics (Newton’s Laws)

Second Year:

  • Calculus, Differential Equations/Linear Algebra
  • Organic Chemistry 1 & 2 + lab
  • Chemical Engineering Material & Energy Balances
  • Physics (Electricity and Magnetism)
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics

Third Year:

  • Applied Data Analysis (statistical tests, methods, and how to analyze data)
  • Chemical Engineering Heat and Mass Transfer
  • Thermodynamics
  • Principles of Biochemistry
  • Chemical Engineering Separations
  • Biomaterials or Materials
  • Chemical Engineering Biokinetics or Reaction Kinetics

Fourth Year:

  • Chemical Process Synthesis (process design)
  • Biological Engineering Laboratory (experiments on mass transfer, bioseparations, and biological reactors with practical data analysis)
  • Biochemical Separations (purification methods, mass transfer for biologicals, and process scale up with emphasis on separations)
  • Chemical Engineering Design Project (capstone project)
  • Instrumentation and Process Control
  • Technical Elective (Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Tissue Engineering and Metabolic Devices, Metabolic Engineering, or Protein and Enzyme Engineering OR Biochemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry 2)

Further Information about this degree

2.4.2 Integrated Physiology:

First Year:

  • General Chemistry + Lab
  • General Biology + Lab
  • Genetics

Second Year:

  • General Chemistry + Lab
  • Data Science & Biostatistics
  • Anatomy, Physiology
  • Physics (Newton’s Principles)

Third Year:

  • Combination of: Cell Physiology, Endocrinology, Biomechanics, Sleep Physiology, Immunology, Exercise Physiology, Neurophysiology

Fourth Year:

  • Combination of: Cell Physiology, Endocrinology, Biomechanics, Sleep Physiology, Immunology, Exercise Physiology, Neurophysiology

Further Information about this degree

2.4.3 Chemistry:

First Year:

  • Foundations of Chemistry + Lab
  • Calculus
  • Organic Chemistry 1 + Lab

Second Year:

  • Organic Chemistry 2 + Lab
  • Physics (Newton’s Laws, Electricity and Magnetism) + Lab
  • Calculus
  • Foundations of Chemistry

Third Year:

  • Physical Chemistry 1 & 2 + Lab

Fourth Year:

  • Modern Inorganic Chemistry
  • Instrumental Analysis + Lab

Further Information about this degree

2.4.4 Biochemistry:

First Year:

  • Foundations of Chemistry + Lab
  • Calculus
  • Organic Chemistry 1 + Lab

Second Year:

  • Organic Chemistry 2 + Lab (for Biochemistry Majors)
  • Introduction to Cellular & Molecular Biology
  • From Dirt to DNA: Phage Genomics Lab 1
  • Foundations of Biochemistry
  • Principles of Genetics
  • Drug Discovery through Hands-on Screens 1

Third Year:

  • Metabolic Pathways & Human Disease
  • Physics (Newton’s Laws)
  • Biochemistry of Gene Transmission, Expression, and Regulation
  • Physics 2 + Lab (Electricity & Magnetism)

Fourth Year:

  • Core Concepts in Physical Chemistry for Biochemists
  • Biochemistry Laboratory

Further information about this degree

More programs and course plans of study can be found here