Lowering Barriers to Undergraduate Research through Collaboration with Local Craft Breweries

Abstract

Laboratory research experiences are highly impactful learning environments for undergraduate students. However, a surprising number of chemistry students do not research. These students often do not research because they lack the time, interest, opportunity, or awareness. Coursebased undergraduate research experiences can reach out to these nonresearching students by lowering the barriers to research. Classroom research opportunities typically harness undergraduate efforts to benefit faculty research. Here we introduce a research course that harnesses undergraduate efforts to benefit an outside company: a local brewery. The benefits of the course design were 3-fold. First, the course attracted students not engaged with existing research opportunities. Second, the students produced data that helped the brewery make significant business decisions. Third, the students developed personally and professionally: learning to design an experiment, to work in teams, and to enjoy science. Similar research courses with local breweries are feasible and could improve student engagement in research at other educational institutions.

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