I am writing in response to Editor-in-Chief Donald Kennedy's recent Editorial, "Science teaching roundup" (6 July 2007, p. 17), which asks undergraduates at research universities why they often fail to continue their academic pursuits as graduate students. As an undergraduate active in "real research" with my earth science department, I have observed many of the discouraging aspects of life as a graduate student or postdoc, and have seen many faculty members continually busied by hectic schedules.
Despite the visibility of such negatives, I still feel that my university—and perhaps largely my department (University of Washington Earth and Space Sciences)—is doing well to provide an inclusive environment fostering scientific thinking as well as building camaraderie between peers. Beyond the introductory level (which certainly has its downfalls at such large research universities), required year-long course series taken by all students in non-competitive science majors are a way to build relationships between students by only their second year of study. Professors also get to know their students this way, and so are more inclined to include the best science-oriented undergrads as assistants in their laboratory research.
As a research assistant doing laboratory and field research in close association with graduate students, postdocs, and professors, I have always felt welcome as a valuable member of our research team. Yes, my faculty mentor is often busy, and certainly there is pressure on graduate students to get research grants, yet however much these may scare off some undergraduates from continuing life in academia, I'm not afraid.
I'm not afraid because I work with a team of researchers who feel it is important to include me as an equally valuable team member. They are constantly bombarded with proposals to write, papers to read, write and review, and presentations to give, yet they make time to work with me, your average science-oriented undergraduate, on major geochemical studies spanning both poles! It's researchers like this, recognizing the importance of exciting the minds of undergraduates, who can build upon the enthusiasm of those science-oriented undergrads to enlarge the pool of productive researchers. I know that my enthusiasm for science is growing every day that I am able, so early in my academic career, to contribute to projects that will aid "real" scientists in their investigations.
Peter D. Neff
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
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