Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URS) Fellows Training started today. That is a mouthful. URS is one of the organizations I work for on campus. I have been in it for the past 3 years and thoroughly enjoy it. The first two years, I attended URS as a student who learned about research and the entire research process. These next two years have been focused on passing on that knowledge and I believe it is much more rewarding for the teacher than the student in this situation.
Our training gets us ready to deal with all the trials and tribulations involved with teaching about 20 Freshman or Sophomores the process of research. They get a chance to get involved with some research on campus and this can be a disaster, so-so, or awesome. My research has been so-so but only recently (meaning 3 years later) has finally gotten very interesting. Last year, our class was great, a very energetic group that really came together in the end. As for this year, we have yet to find out who will be following us. Also, we get a co-fellow. This makes the whole class dynamic much more interesting because you work with this person (usually the opposite gender) every week and almost daily to get the class plans prepared. Tomorrow I find out who mine is. I am kind of scared but in the end I am sure it will be a good fit, the directors do a good job of pairing us. In the end, the 20 fellows all attend this training for the next 4 days and get to know URS more in depth.
On another note: I will be posting another entry very shortly. I do not wish to take away from the coolness factor of that entry by explaining how I came to read the article involved with it. So have fun with that one.
