Recruiting Instructors of Graduate-Level Biology Courses

Dear Colleagues,

We are a group of biologists and biology education researchers conducting a collaborative research project to create and evaluate educational resources showcasing biologists' hobbies outside of science with the end goal of supporting graduate student wellbeing and preventing burnout. This project is an expansion of the Beyond the Bench blog that Christine Lattin at LSU started in a scientific writing class for graduate students. We are looking to recruit instructors interested in implementing an activity in their graduate-level courses that features scientist profiles and asks students to make their own scientist profile. For more information about this study, please visit our FAQ page (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MyCSugTrKete-f546oMtwvGIQ8AWuGQ-/view). For instructors interested in participating in our study and in learning more, please fill out this brief form (https://sunybuffalo.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cHXvm1qtxrazcLc) to express your interest and provide us with more information about the courses you teach.

We ask that you please forward this message to all biology faculty at your university who teach introductory graduate courses (i.e., Introduction to Graduate School, Science Communication, Scientific Writing).

Thank you for helping with our efforts to improve graduate education and wellbeing, and please reach out with any questions (robincos@buffalo.edu).

Cheers,
Robin Costello, Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo
Christine Lattin, Associate Professor, Louisiana State University
Melissa Kjelvik, Research Specialist, Michigan State University
Margaret Adams, Graduate Student, University at Buffalo