title: Monitoring undergraduate student needs and activities at Experimental Biology: APS pilot survey.
abstract: Life science professional societies play important roles for undergraduates in their fields and increasingly offer membership, fellowships, and awards for undergraduate students. However, the overall impacts of society-student interactions have not been well studied. Here, we sought to develop and test a pilot survey of undergraduate students to determine how they got involved in research and in presenting at the Experimental Biology (EB) meeting, what they gained from the scientific and career development sessions at the meeting, and how the American Physiological Society (APS) can best support and engage undergraduate students. This survey was administered in 2014 and 2015 to undergraduate students who submitted physiology abstracts for and attended EB. More than 150 students responded (38% response rate). Respondents were demographically representative of undergraduate students majoring in life sciences in the United States. Most students (72%) became involved in research through a summer research program or college course. They attended a variety of EB sessions, including poster sessions and symposia, and found them useful. Undergraduate students interacted with established researchers at multiple venues. Students recommended that APS provide more research fellowships (25%) and keep in touch with students via both e-mail (46%) and social media (37%). Our results indicate that APS' EB undergraduate activities are valued by students and are effective in helping them have a positive scientific meeting experience. These results also guided the development of a more streamlined survey for use in future years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
authors.forename: Nicole L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Nichols
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and.
authors.forename: Daria V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Ilatovskaya
authors.affiliation: Education Office, American Physiological Society, Bethesda, Maryland mmatyas@the-aps.org.
authors.forename: Marsha L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8782-6205
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Matyas
mesh_terms: D001695:Biology / Q000193:education*; D003226:Congresses as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012106:Research / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: career exploration; research experience; undergraduate