Learning to Work in a Lab

Natural Sciences5 MIN READ

A new 100-level biology course prepares students to conduct research in top-level labs at Colby and beyond

Students in the Navigating the World of STEM Research course listen as their classmates present their results from learning to use various probes. The idea behind the course is to prepare students to enter a research lab.
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By Kayla Voigt '14Photography by Ashley L. Conti
October 15, 2024

When you start a new job, you’re not just trying to get up to speed on the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. There are often unspoken rules of engagement you’ll inevitably bump into—from interdepartmental politics to the hierarchy of microwavable leftovers. (Please do not bring last night’s crab cakes.)

It’s one thing to be proficient in specific lab techniques and another to navigate what it means actually to work in a lab. It’s this kind of back-door knowledge that Andrea Tilden, the Leslie Brainerd Arey Associate Professor of Biosciences, and Sasha Alcott, associate director of STEM programming, address in their new 100-level biology course, Navigating the World of STEM Research. 

“The idea behind the course is to prepare students to enter a research lab. That’s everything from how to secure a research position to who does what in a lab and understanding the bigger picture around why research is at the heart of scientific inquiry,” said Alcott. 

White female teacher in front of a college class delivering a lecture.
Sasha Alcott, associate director of STEM programming, in the new course Navigating the World of STEM Research, which helps students learn what it means to actually work in a lab.

The course is designed to pair with their introductory laboratory courses. While students won’t be learning how to use a mass spectrometer or running Western blots, they do spend time diving deep into different research subdisciplines with guest speakers from the Colby community and analyzing scientific literature.

“One of the first things you’ll do in a summer research experience is get handed a stack of articles and need to talk about them,” said Tilden. It’s these soft skills—or durable skills, as Tilden prefers—“that go along with your quantitative and lab bench skills that will set you apart.”

Female college professor sits while listening to student presentations.
Andrea Tilden, the Leslie Brainerd Arey Associate Professor of Biosciences, hopes that the course Navigating the World of STEM Research gives students a jumping-off point during their first year to help them begin to figure out what their future may look like.

The students also work closely with DavisConnects to prepare for the internship-application season. “It’s essential for students to find a research opportunity and get experience in the industry, especially as they look to graduate school in the sciences,” said David Ding, DavisConnects advisor for STEM professions. “At Colby, we can really expose students to a wide breadth of opportunities, and it gives them a big leg up when they are applying for graduate school or for entry-level positions.”

Making these opportunities visible to students—and dismantling the myth that they have to wait until junior year to experience them—is part of launching them into exciting scientific careers. “We hope to give them a jumping-off point in their first year,” said Tilden. “We have summer research positions available for first-year students so they can have more experiences and choices to figure out what they want to do.”

Naji Yerokun ’26, a biology-neuroscience and math double major, took the course because he knew the pursuit of scientific knowledge was his life’s work, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. He has spent recent summers conducting cancer research at the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative at The Jackson Laboratory and at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C. 

“It gave me a real perspective on what research looks like at Colby and in real life,” said Yerokun. “Being part of the class gave me the confidence to want to pursue research. Every day in the lab, I was using what I learned.”

College students in a classroom
In the Navigating the World of STEM Research course, students gain perspective on how research is conducted at Colby and at laboratories and institutions across the country.

That’s exactly how Ines Benjelloun ’26, a biology-neuroscience major and chemistry minor, felt when she took the class during the spring semester of her first year. On campus, she works in a neurobiology lab as a lab assistant. She’s conducted cancer research at the Center for Discovery and Innovation in New Jersey and biomedical research in a joint Harvard-MIT optical lab. 

“My summer at CDI was a great first introduction to a research lab, and having the background from the course helped me understand the skills that are often overlooked but very necessary to be successful in this field,” said Benjelloun. “Getting my hands dirty is not something new for me, but it’s the other part of the process, like publishing, reviewing papers, and applying for funding, that I knew nothing about.”

Said Alcott, “We’re unveiling this hidden scientific curriculum. The more they can be prepared, the more they can go out and write their application, nail the interview, and secure the kinds of opportunities that they want, that they feel passionate about.”

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