Setting Expectations for Undergraduate Researchers

I run a relatively large research lab made up entirely of undergraduate students, and over the years, our students have been remarkably productive. They conduct experiments, present their work, contribute to manuscripts, and take real ownership of research projects.

A major reason this model works is not because I spend every afternoon standing beside students at the bench. In fact, I very specifically do not.

What makes the lab work is structure, clear expectations, and a culture that gives students room to become independent researchers.

Set the Expectations Before They Join

When a student first comes to talk with me about joining the lab, I try to be very clear about what they are signing up for.

One of the first things I tell them is that I am not going to be standing next to them in the lab holding their hand through every experiment. That simply is not my mentoring style, and with a large undergraduate research group, it would not be practical anyway.

That does not mean students are thrown into the lab alone.

Instead, students work in teams. New researchers are paired with more experienced undergraduate students who already understand the project, techniques, and expectations of the lab. The structure is somewhat similar to what I have experienced in the Army: newer members learn from those with more experience, gradually take on additional responsibility, and eventually become the people training the next group.

For some students, this structure sounds fantastic. For others, it is a pretty good indication that my lab probably is not the right fit.

Both outcomes are fine.

Research mentoring does not have to look the same for every faculty member, and every lab does not have to be a good fit for every student. It is much better for students to understand the environment before joining than to discover later that they expected a completely different mentoring style.

Research Requires a Real Time Commitment

I also tell prospective students that I expect approximately six hours per week devoted to their research project.

Undergraduate students are busy. They have classes, jobs, clubs, families, and plenty of other responsibilities competing for their time. Research does not need to consume their lives, but meaningful progress is difficult when someone comes into the lab for 45 minutes every other week.

Six hours gives students enough time to plan experiments, conduct them, troubleshoot problems, analyze results, and actually remain connected to the project.

The time commitment is also about fairness. Most of our projects are team-based, which means one student’s work often directly affects what another student is able to accomplish. If three students are consistently putting in their time and moving a project forward while another student rarely comes into the lab, the workload quickly becomes uneven. Establishing the expectation up front helps make sure everyone on the team is contributing.

Along with the six-hour expectation, I generally expect students to complete at least two experiments each month. Obviously, research does not always cooperate with a calendar. Some experiments take much longer, and there are times when troubleshooting, waiting for materials, growing cells, or other circumstances make that expectation unrealistic. In those cases, the student and I determine ahead of time that a different goal makes sense.

The point is not to create an experiment quota for the sake of having a quota. It is to establish a reasonable baseline for progress and prevent a research project from becoming something students participate in only when they happen to have a free afternoon.

Accountability Through Weekly Meetings

Another major part of our structure is a weekly group meeting.

Every student is expected to briefly present what they accomplished during the previous week, including their experimental results, and explain what they are planning to do during the coming week.

This serves several purposes. It keeps everyone accountable, but it also forces students to regularly look at their own data and think about what should happen next. Instead of simply completing an experiment and moving on, they have to interpret what happened and communicate it to the group.

The meetings also allow students to learn from one another. A troubleshooting problem on one project may be something another student has already encountered. Newer students get to hear how experienced students interpret results and plan experiments, while senior students get practice explaining their reasoning and providing useful feedback.

It also makes it pretty obvious when someone has spent several weeks saying, “I’m planning to do that experiment next week.”

That accountability is intentional. Independence works much better when there are regular opportunities to show progress, discuss problems, and make a plan for what comes next.

Students Are Allowed to Leave—But They Cannot Disappear

Another expectation I establish early is that students are not trapped in my lab.

They can decide at essentially any point that research is no longer something they want to do. Their interests might change. Their course load might become overwhelming. They might discover that they simply do not enjoy research.

That is completely acceptable.

What is not acceptable is disappearing.

If a student wants to leave a project, I expect them to have a conversation with me. It does not need to be dramatic or uncomfortable. We simply need to discuss where the project stands, what samples or data exist, what another student may need to know, and how to transition their responsibilities.

This is particularly important in a team-based lab. When someone simply stops showing up, it does not only affect their own research experience. It can leave another student trying to figure out where samples are located, what experiments were completed, or what still needs to be done.

Learning how to leave a project professionally is itself a useful skill.

Failure Is Part of the Job

Probably the expectation I emphasize most is that students are going to fail. Frequently.

Experiments will not work. Controls will look terrible. Samples will be lost. Equipment will behave strangely. A protocol that worked perfectly last Tuesday will inexplicably refuse to work on Thursday.

That is research.

I tell students that I expect failure, and in many cases, I become more concerned if they tell me that everything is working perfectly.

If students are never failing, they may not be pushing beyond techniques they already understand. They may be avoiding difficult experiments. Or, occasionally, we may need to take a much closer look at how the data are being interpreted.

The goal is not to avoid failure. The goal is to learn how to respond to it.

Students need to learn to ask: What happened? What variables changed? What do the controls tell us? What should we modify next time?

That transition from seeing a failed experiment as a bad grade to seeing it as information is one of the most important steps in becoming a scientist.

Independence Requires Structure

Giving undergraduate students independence does not mean giving them no support.

In my lab, independence works because there is a structure underneath it. Students have experienced peers to ask questions, defined time and productivity expectations, weekly accountability, established projects, and clear expectations for communication.

Over time, the student who once needed help preparing a solution becomes the person teaching someone else how to do it. The student who initially needed help troubleshooting every experiment eventually walks into my office with three possible explanations and a plan for testing each one.

That progression is exactly what I want.

The goal of undergraduate research should not simply be to help students successfully complete experiments. It should be to help them become increasingly capable of figuring out what to do when the experiment does not go according to plan.

Clear expectations make that possible.

This is free, always will be — but if you want to say thanks, a chai latte tip is always appreciated ☕

Venmo @Jessica-Pullan