Former Group Member Andrew Petrou Matched with Brown University for Residency

We're excited to share the news of Andrew, a past Burrows group research student, who recently completed medical school at Quinnipac School of Medicine and has been matched with Brown University for a residency program starting on June 19th.

Completing medical school and matching with Brown University for a residency program is a remarkable accomplishment. It's a testament to Andrew's hard work, perseverance, and dedication to the medical field.

We congratulate Andrew on his achievement and wish him the very best as he prepares for the residency program. We're confident that he'll continue to make a significant impact in the medical profession, and we're proud to have played a part in his journey.

In conclusion, we celebrate Andrew's success and encourage all our students to work hard, stay determined, and never give up on their dreams.

Literature Review Presentations

Our group members each presented on a paper that related to the research they are currently working on. Here are some of them presenting.

Dr. Burrows presented at BCCE 2022

Dr. Burrows recently attended and presented at the 2022 BCCE held at Purdue University. At the conference, Dr. Burrows facilitated the Bird of a Feather (BoAF) session with Ginger Shultz and Sam Pazicni entitled, “Leading, Managing, and Mentoring Chemistry Education Research Groups”

Here is a summary of that session: Given the growing footprint of chemistry education research in academic chemistry departments, research groups focusing on chemistry education are becoming more common. In order to support current and future faculty in leading chemistry education research groups, this birds of a feather session will prompt participants to share thoughts and strategies related to (but certainly not excluding) fostering and monitoring chemistry education research skills, inclusive mentoring, and project management.

Dr. Burrows also gave an Oral presentation her lab’s current ongoing research on the flipped classroom pre-lecture videos entitled, “Student perceptions of flipped classroom pre-lecture videos.”

7 tips for being a PI at a PUI

A few days ago, I got an email asking me, “what has it been like getting started doing research with undergraduate students at your institution?”.

Sorry let me introduce myself first. Hi, my name is Nikita Burrows, and I am a first-gen PI at a PUI with no post-doc. Finding balance and transitioning into this role was challenging, and it took a while, but I finally found my balance. So here are my first 7 tips for being a PI at a PUI with only undergraduate students.

1. The turnaround is faster with undergrads vs. graduate students. I can’t stress this enough. Generally, you only have them for one to two years. Three years if you are lucky, and they started early doing research. I found that you have to set a clear boundary of expectations for them. In order for them to do research with you, they have to commit to at least three full semesters of research with you. I found that setting that expectation sorts out those doing it to fulfill a requirement or have it on their CV vs. those who genuinely want the research experience. It might be tempting to have a high quantity of students over quality (and trust me, I’ve been there), but I promise you that it is worth it.

2. Regarding the number of undergraduate students, I found that I can only work well with 2 to 4 students in any semester. Anything over four students is too much for me. Of course, this is subjective to you, but I think two students is a good start. You do not have a post-doc to rely on to train students. Instead, you will have to do all training in addition to teaching and service. Imagine training 6 students every semester!

3. For projects, having one solid focus for all my research students to work on was the best thing for me. Because you will be teaching and doing service activities, I think starting with one solid focus is the best start for you as well. Now when I say one focus, you can have multiple projects in that focus. For example, my work focused on the undergraduate laboratory, but I had various projects inside it. But you don’t want to start doing lab studies, mindset studies, and concept inventory while also looking at digital badges. It’s too much to keep up with. As you evolve, those things will come, but it will be too much to give each research student one separate focus. This separate focus works for graduate students but not for research with undergraduates at a PUI

4. Because undergrads are generally new to research and probably never encountered any educational research skills, I had to find a research skill I could teach in one semester or less. I decided to go with teaching them interview skills because I was very familiar with it, and after a few practice runs, I could move students straight into data collection. It is tempting to have undergrads go through the literature review process and how to develop research questions, etc. But I have found that it requires a lot of one-on-one time, which I didn’t have a ton of because of the new courses, service work, and writing.

5. Getting your undergrad access to Grammarly will be a time-saver for you regarding the student-contributed writing portions of the manuscript. It will allow them to check how bad their writing is before you have to say anything at all. So when you meet with them to discuss their report, it’s on the content, not the bad grammar.

6. Because the turnover for undergrads is more frequent than for graduate students, I found that making a training module for the research skill I want to teach them saves so much time.

7. On a similar note, all my research students have to go through CITI training. So I made a document with instructions on which CITI training modules to complete, how to get your results and how to send them to me after they are complete. So basically, if you can make a resource document to which you can send your undergrad students, then definitely do it.

That’s it for my first seven tips for being  PI at a PUI. Of course, these are just my thoughts, but I found these to work well for me. Please add your own tips down below because I’m always looking for new ways to be a better PI at a PUI.

Rachel Soto continues data collection into the summer

Rachel Soto, one of our up and coming group members, is continuing to collect data for our flipped classroom study. So far Rachel has conducted 16 total interviews. WOW what a good job Rachel!!

Rachel has also found some interesting themes….

In some preliminary data analysis, Rachel has noted a few themes starting to emerge regarding students perceptions of unsuccess in the flipped classroom and how the flipped classroom compares to traditional lecture. Well done Rachel! You can find her on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachel.demi/

Rachel says with research and interviewing, “I feel I have become comfortable with speaking to new people and gained an interest in other’s learning/studying strategies.”

The data that Rachel is collecting and analyzing will be presented at this upcoming BCCE!

Attended #MICER22

The Burrows Lab just attended their very first MICER conference. While they did not present it was a wonderful experience to engage with the chemistry education community.

New Lab Members!!

The Burrows lab is excited to welcome on in new members Rachel and Rebecca to the lab. You can read more about them on the team page. They will be joining Rachel S and Jamie in working on flipped classroom data as well as some other new projects lined up. Join us in welcoming them to the lab!

Abstract Accepted for BCCE 2022

Dr. Burrows will be presenting at the BCCE 2022 conference: Here are the details to her session:

ABSTRACT TITLE: Exploring Student perspectives of the flipped classroom pre-class video (final paper number: BCCE 1095)
SESSION: Why and/or how do the flipped classroom influence student learning and faculty success in chemistry classes and laboratories?
SESSION TIME: 2:00 PM - 5:15 PM

PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Wednesday, August 3, 2022 from 3:05 PM - 3:25 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: 307 - STEW

SESSION: Why and/or how do the flipped classroom influence student learning and faculty success in chemistry classes and laboratories?

Jaimy Joji presents at #CLEAR22

On April 21, 2022 Jaimy Joji presented a poster at The Chemistry Laboratory: Evaluation, Assessment & Research Symposium (#CLEAR22). This poster looked at the work Jaimy did regarding Lab interviews as a form of assessment in a Biochemistry undergraduate lab. This posters can be found on the #CLEAR22 website: https://clearlabsymposium22.wordpress.com/