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Research Tools Workshops

By completing a variety of Research Tools Workshops, you’ll gain familiarity with equipment, techniques, and analyses that will open up more opportunities for you as a researcher. Science research fellows are required to participate in at least three workshops before graduation. We recommend completing your workshops during the first- and sophomore years, so that you gain skills and find possible research fits.  Students may attend more than three workshops and are also encouraged to participate in workshops during their junior and senior years to continue to learn more tools and techniques. 

Examples of Previous Research Tools Workshops

  • Winter Term
    • BIO 184B, Introduction to Lab Techniques and Biological Research - Sarah Mordan-McCombs 

  • Workshops

    • Analyses and Techniques

      • Using R to create visualizations - David Harvey

      • Python for basic data analysis - Jacob Hale

      • Models for your research – Naima Shifa

      • Working with qualitative data – Naima Shifa

    • Equipment

      • Scanning Electron Microscope - Ken Brown

      • Chemical Characterization of Materials with X-ray Fluorescence – Ken Brown

      • Drone workshop - Tim Cope

      • Genotyping Zebrafish – Henning Schneider

      • Fluorescence Microscopy - Henning Schneider

      • Measuring Zebrafish Behavior – Acute Nicotine Response - Henning Schneider

      • Eye tracker for behavioral research - Michael Roberts

      • Introduction to EEG (electrode cap for neural recording) - Rob West

    • Writing and Programming

      • Applying to NSF graduate research fellowships - Hilary Eppley 

      • Intro to Relational Database and SQL - Chad Byers

      • Creating Professional Documents with LaTeX - Thomas Grier

      • Relevant Tenzer Technology Center workshops/contests

  • Tool-based courses

    • GEOS 205: Introduction to GIS

 

Online courses

The Science Research Fellows Program allows students to count up to two online courses towards the Research Tools requirement. If you want to use these as part of the program requirements, contact the director, Dr. Khadija Stewart, to share details about the course before you take it, and she will review for approval. As online courses are approved, the director will add them to this list so students see approved options. After completing the course, provide a certificate of completion during the same semester/summer that you took the course.

  • Here are a few examples:

    • LinkedIn Learning - DePauw students have free access to these online courses, which vary between a couple of hours of introduction to many hours for developing skills in more detail. For example, there are courses for learning Excel fundamentals, statistical analyses, data mining, databases, programming languages, etc.

      • We are not expecting you to become an expert via these kinds of online courses, but we hope they introduce you to tools that you’ll use and further build upon in your research, in classes at DePauw, etc.

    • Coursera courses with relevance for research (e.g., learning statistical techniques, programming languages, etc.)

    • ESRI ArcGIS Training (interactive maps) - several free courses. Beginners should take ArcGIS Pro: An Introduction and ArcGIS Pro Basics. ArcGIS online registration required.