(598g) Integrating Research into Undergraduate Laboratory Courses

Most laboratory courses in the chemical engineering curriculum engage students with routine experiments that are not involved with research. Integrating research-based practices into laboratory courses can be transformative for student education and can introduce them to research. For this project, experiments involving mass spectrometry, which are based on the lab instructor’s research, are added to an analytical lab course in chemical engineering. Year 1 of the class (no added mass spectrometry experiment) is the control group and year 2 of the class (with added mass spectrometry experiment) is the experimental group. Typically, mass spectrometers are too expensive to be included in the student instrumentation lab, but our approach allows students to gain experience with this type of instrumentation by leveraging the facilities in the Metabolomics core at our campus. We developed assessments (such as class surveys and quizzes) to assess students’ understanding of mass spectrometry and their interest in participating in undergraduate research, as well as to collect students’ feedback on the lab modules. Preliminary data suggests that after the mass spectrometry lab is added to the class, students demonstrated enhanced understanding of the data analysis for mass spectrometry, specifically on how to use mass spectrometry data to obtain information about plant metabolic pathways. Additionally, by explaining to students how the mass spectrometry experiment fits in the instructor’s overall research program, we observed that students showed more favorable attitudes toward laboratory experiments and more interest in participating in undergraduate research. We hope to encourage other lab instructors to integrate research into their laboratory courses as well.