Memorable Moments: 

Nia: [00:04:32] We tell students about a neurodegenerative disease, and this year we focus on Alzheimer's disease, which is a really terrible and prevalent disease that more and more students are coming in contact with over the course of their life. And then we challenge them to do research on their own neurodegenerative disease and really identify opportunities where invention could happen. 

Alex: [00:08:30] So we use Labster in Biotech in Action and we'll tell the students this is kind of like a video game meets science and it's going to be really cool. And it's always exciting to watch the students say they love Labster, and it's a great way for us to show them, you know what science looks like. 

Stephanie: [00:09:09] What the students were telling us was how they made such great friendships with people that they'd never known before, that didn't live in their backyard. And they'd passed information to stay in touch just like you would at a regular face-to-face camp. And this just stood in stark contrast to what I was reading in a lot of people's experiences trying to teach online. 

Nia: [00:14:19] We have actual professionals who are really, really passionate about their job and what it is that they are doing every day in the lab, and they don't really dumb down their language for the students. We tell the students that it's OK for them to be confused and to not know what's going on, but to really ask questions, be engaged and be participatory as best as they're able so that then they get the most out of the program. 

Alex: [00:16:22] Our end goal is that places like Biogen have this diversity of thinking, have this diversity of employees, and it starts with the students, right? It starts with the people that are interested in science. Those are the people that are going to become scientists. 
Alex: [00:17:15] I think that's always my biggest goal when I go into teaching, if they come out thinking, ‘I can do something in science, that is completely feasible for me in my career and my future’, then I think we've had a successful program. 

Stephanie: [00:18:34] We had one young man who came to the first summer where we had the Parkinson's theme and his father actually was struggling with Parkinson's, so he had an idea for a glove. And he presented that at the culminating event in the program. And then he kept coming back to us for coaching. And he ended up entering the Massachusetts Invention Convention, and he won at that level and went on to compete in the national competition at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, with his invention. 

Episode 20 Transcript: 
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XxlMHFcG44Dl8XMlU1j-nHNOutJhFohq?usp=sharing

More Resources:
Biotech in Action Program (free):
https://lemelson.mit.edu/biotech-action/

Try Labster now (free): 
https://www.labster.com/free-trial/ 

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https://www.labster.com/newsletter/ 

Find Labster on Social: 
https://twitter.com/labster
https://www.facebook.com/teamlabster
https://www.linkedin.com/company/labster

Memorable Moments:

• Lori Banks [00:03:11] I think the biggest part of that is just them not choosing to do something because of a negative interaction that they've had with the professor, which has unfortunately been more common than it should be with those of us in previous generations where somebody says, 'Well, you know, well, your kind of people don't do that 'or 'that's not really a woman thing’ or whatever, both of which I have personally heard.
• Lori Banks [00:03:54] In my research, we work on novel antiviral development, which is obviously very needed right now. But the bigger thing that we're doing is training people to feel confident in themselves and their scientific ability so they can go out and change the world.
• Lori Banks [00:09:18] What helps me think, you know, very clearly and very intentionally, I think about how to coach the undergrads in terms of really thinking about goal setting, self-awareness, stress management, you know, in all of these habits that it would behoove them to develop well early so that when they come to graduate school, they really have good practice in these areas and they'll be able to just sort of you know, coast instead of hitting the learning curve the way that a lot of others of us have.
• Lori Banks [00:16:30] It's good that they can initially get sort of a first pass of the information from the textbook. But I'm finding that particularly with the Labster modules that I use in almost all my classes now, finding another way to stimulate the neurons is always better.
• Lori Banks [00:19:32] I think it's super important to have these conversations and for people to know and understand that making sure that our students are engaged in the material and feel welcome in the space is as important, if not more important, than the content that we're actually delivering. Because if they don't feel like we see them, they're not going to hear what we say. 
   

Episode 19 Transcript: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EAGl60yqYfJKTcJnC2n_1Ysvbxka38ne/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103492469363522367891&rtpof=true&sd=true

More Resources:
Try Labster now: https://www.labster.com/ 

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: https://www.labster.com/newsletter/ 

Find Labster on Social: 
https://twitter.com/labster
https://www.facebook.com/teamlabster
https://www.linkedin.com/company/labster/

Memorable Moments:
Dr. Lori Banks: They're definitely learning the nuts and bolts of the chemistry, the biology, the physics and the math, but in more of an application or problem-based learning kind of way rather than just these are the things that we need you to memorize because we said so. 

Dr. Lori Banks: You do need to consider what are you sending these people out into the world with now that you've granted them this bachelor's degree, what are they actually really going to be able to do with it? And do they have the skills to walk on someone's job and be productive or to go out into public service? Or, you know, a number of different things, but enough that they're able to sustain themselves? 

Dr. Lori Banks: The learning curve for a lot of people is so huge, particularly for students who don't have some sort of familial institutional knowledge of how graduate education works. So I actually was only recently made aware of a statistic that more people who are getting PhDs come from families where someone already has a Ph.D. than not. 

Dr. Lori Banks: What I worked on with the post baccs was really helping them understand what they were getting into and sort of the "off-menu items" that they needed to be aware of so that they could increase their success. 

Dr. Lori Banks: As we think about sort of the difference between what is helping us focus purely on the science and what has been accepted within the scientific profession because it was good for the people that were allowed to do it, we need to be aware of that and address it as such as we now have lots of people in these spaces who don't look like what the profession used to look like 50 years ago. 

Episode 18 Transcript: 
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GUbHSqC_U_6sOG8SedOC-PfPCzzIgKnr?usp=sharing

More Resources:
Try Labster now: 
https://www.labster.com/ 

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: 
https://www.labster.com/newsletter/ 

Find Labster on Social: 
https://twitter.com/labster 
https://www.facebook.com/teamlabster 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/labster/