Mauer now is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. While she worked with Nielsen, Mauer wrote an honors thesis describing the effects of environmental conditions on the nutrient content of soybeans. It turned into her first published paper and helped her get support to continue in graduate school. They took a good look at my thesis before they made that decision. And the experience with Dr. Nielsen made the transition to graduate school much easier.
Experience also helps students get jobs.
Brown, who currently has four undergraduate students in his lab, would like to see every student do undergraduate research. According to Sue Loesch-Fries, assistant professor of botany, undergraduates also can be a mental breath of fresh air. They make us take another look at what we thought was true. Karl Brandt, director of the Office of Academic Programs for the School of Agriculture, encourages Loesch-Fries and others to include undergraduates in their research. He started offering grants to help defray the cost of student work in laboratories and has been pleased that so many professors apply for them.