From: Jeffrey Lewin <jclewin**At_Symbol_Here**MTU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Admissions Tours in the Laboratories
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2021 17:53:11 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: CAEwQnqh8X8XtgngguifA5Jy9twQOmnGxu_oxGxSTfmAdi3SKvQ**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To


Having been the point person for biology outreach in my previous job, some thoughts
- At our University the general admissions tour follows the same route and same "script" for everyone. That said, if the tour guide is touring a space they major in, they tend to talk it up, so encourage your students to be tour guides. One goal is to get your highpoints in their script. But don't count on them using it. There were two prominent tour stops in biology spaces. One an atrium that overlooks a lake. In spite of what we gave them for information, the focus is on the university owned ski hill across the lake. The second is our medical profession and general teaching labs on the tallest building (11th floor). Instead of talking about the labs they look out the window and talk about the shopping downtown. Our solution is to put "cool" posters next to the windows for the brothers and sisters that are zoning out to look at.
- Our University has an annual Preview Day. All departments are expected to participate. Most find energetic students and cool demos and set up in lobbies or classrooms.
- One of our two biggest outreaches was "high school visits." Students spent the day learning how science became a passion for a professor, participated in some sort of lab activity (usually medical lab science and anatomy) and "attended their first college course" by attending a lecture in Anatomy and Physiology. When quizzed at the end of the day on their favorite activity? Often the answer was "lunch;" We fed them in the dorm and they learn the food is better than they've been told by mom, dad, brother, sister, etc.
- My other favorite was Bioathlon, a sophomore level high school competition where 4 students from 16 to 20 area high schools did four competitions (usually vertebrate anatomy, Medical Lab Science, Biochemistry, and an ecology scavenger hunt). At the end of the day the team with the most points wins. Over the 20 years of doing it I talked to students that said Bioathlon is what seriously made them consider Michigan Tech. One year it made national news when the local newspaper "Student's in search of Spiders" got picked up by the AP. I also talked to an alumni who said he met his future wife at the competition..

That strays from the original question. My advice - make sure you have lots of cool posters on the wall (that interest undergrads - think pictures not words), try to get in the tour script, walk the tour and look in the windows - does it look cool, boring, or just plain cluttered. If you have a showcase room that requires opening the door to see the space, consider adding a viewing window like our Chemical Engineering Dept did for their Unit Operations teaching space.

Jeff
.



On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 3:11 PM Shannon Nephew <millersc**At_Symbol_Here**plattsburgh.edu> wrote:
Thank you everyone! This is very helpful and some great ideas in here that I think we could certainly implement.
I love Monique's STEM Open house for sure...we have done something similar in the past, and it really is the best way to see the labs (with faculty and students present who know much about them). One of our main concerns is that the people who conduct the tours are usually not the students who are familiar with our labs, so that might be worth chatting with Admissions about...maybe a separate component of the tour for those interested in that aspect. I also loved the idea about getting some of the science students to work with Admissions doing tours!
We do have large windows on doors (two doors per lab, in fact), so a more general tour can get a pretty good view.
I have had certain tours contact me and ask if I can bring specific families around and talk about our science programs (one that I can recall was a potential hockey recruit, and the coach came with us).
One main problem with the current situation is that often, none of the faculty or staff are around and children, food/drinks, etc. are brought in on these tours. We were alerted to this one day when a bottle of kombucha was broken in the lab and it was found after the fact).

Thank you so much for all of your input. I will definitely share it with our Chemical Hygiene Committee.


SHANNON C. NEPHEW,
MS, CSM
Chemical Hygiene Officer, Hudson Hall Science Complex Building Manager
Science Programs and Facilities Support Professional
Hudson Hall 317
101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
plattsburgh.edu
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On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 11:58 AM Monique Wilhelm <mwilhelm**At_Symbol_Here**umich.edu> wrote:
Hi Shannon,

This is a great question.

I am on a small campus and most admissions events do not allow visitors in the labs. However, we do offer one special admissions/recruitment event for students interested in STEM every October. They call it a STEM Open House. During that event, a few select labs are prepped to lower hazards for the event and lab faculty and staff, including myself, are available to interact with the guests and ensure that the experience is informative as well as safe.

Cheers,
_________________________________________________________
Monique Wilhelm
Lab Manager
CAS, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry | The University of Michigan-Flint
303 E. Kearsley St | Room 572 MSB | Flint, MI | 48502-1950


On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 11:14 AM Denise Beautreau <deb313**At_Symbol_Here**lehigh.edu> wrote:
Hi Shannon,
I see that you are at my alma mater. There has always been a policy of no entry to anyone that has not been trained into any of the teaching or research labs and all the institutions I have worked at. Admissions tours for undergraduates were never allowed into the lab spaces. If anything, when I have been part of renovation projects, there have been design accommodations to allow for peeking in through doors with glass or larger windows so students and their families can get a better view. Now on the graduate side, things were slightly different with regards to access to research spaces. I know of some faculty that would allow potential students to tour their personal research space, some would even tour common spaces such as instrument rooms while others would not, and others that just did the peek in for all areas. My experience with Admissions folks and the people in various departments has been mostly positive with adhering to these guidelines.

Denise

On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 10:28 AM Shannon Nephew <millersc**At_Symbol_Here**plattsburgh.edu> wrote:
Hello Colleagues,

This issue has been discussed a few times in our Laboratory Chemical Hygiene Safety Meetings here on campus and our Committee easily reached a consensus regarding Admissions Tours coming through our laboratories and/or research spaces.

Our laboratories are accessed via a card swipe and students can only access the lab during their designated lab time (or a close window to that). Some labs choose no student access and the instructors let them in at the start themselves. Our rule is that all student employees and faculty go through our annual safety training, and these student ambassadors from Admissions currently do not go through a safety training.

While meeting with my supervisor this morning, she and I thought it would be helpful to know how other campuses handle tours. When I went on college tours with my daughter, we peeked in the window of the labs and the tour guide explained various things about them. However, we did not usually enter the labs. Does your institution allow tours into the labs themselves?

Thank you for any insight you can offer, it is much appreciated!

Shannon
SHANNON C. NEPHEW,
MS, CSM
Chemical Hygiene Officer, Hudson Hall Science Complex Building Manager
Science Programs and Facilities Support Professional
Hudson Hall 317
101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
plattsburgh.edu
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Lehigh University COVID-19 Staying Connected:

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Jeff Lewin
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Research Integrity Office
Laboratory Operations
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Michigan Technological University

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