Why should we care about Bc. students?

Since the beginning of July 2020, as we gotten back to full-speed mode in the lab, I have been supervising 2 Bc. students. My perspective on why this work is challenging, but also rewarding.

Learning the basics

There are typically lab assignments each lab member is given. Cleaning chores, solvents preparations on weekly basis, massive Christmas clean-up just to name a few. Part of PhD. Studies is to supervise a Bc. or MSc. Student over few weeks, teach him/her the basics of working in the lab including correct techniques used in my case in the field of organic chemistry. Weighting the compounds, looking for the safety and correct use of the chemical, planning and setting up the reaction, running TLC plates in right eluent systems, quenching the reaction, water-orgo extractions, column purifications. Surely, these things could be learnt on his/her own, but it cannot compare with having a more experienced chemist on your side, guiding you through these first days in the lab.

TIME you invest

As a PhD candidate you have your own projects, that need to be moving forward. There is no time for “supervision vacation”. While doing your own work, you sacrifice some of your TIME to pass the knowledge further. Especially at the very beginning, everything is slower=all takes longer, so be ready to spend long hours in the lab. You could plan things to the best of your ability, but … you know it … your pure collected fractions get spilled on the bench or you can no longer find your compound in organic layer, while doing extractions or … the compound is not yet coming in a pure form from the column.

In this regard, I have learnt to be immune and control my temper. Why? I recall vividly my first days as a 2^nd semester Bc. Student on organometallic lab of Professor Štěpnička, great mentor, I have to say. I was supervised by a PhD student. She was at the top of her class, I assume from the prizes, she won in the course of her studies, but I had always lots of questions to ask and that must have driven her nuts, I suppose. I wish, I could learn a lot each time in the lab. But I did not. I had to look for places elsewhere. I watched how other lab members are doing the daily routines and quickly picked up these habits from them. I became more open towards accepting how other people are performing these techniques. This helped me! I even suggested my own experiments to perform and I started to feel more valuable among older lab members. Back then, I said to myself: „If, I am ever to mentor somebody, I will give my very best. I do not want them to feel that they are not enough, because they are enough.“ I was just 20.

What is then the rewarding part of it?

SO much!!! You get a lab partner to the same hood, helper, passer of Pasteur pipettes, glassware. There is this feeling you get, when you see your students really getting it, when you get along well, when you spend time at lunches talking about all kind of things. You see the growth of that person. From the very first progress report he presents to the final one. You see his confidence go up, not being afraid to question his results, especially when they design their own reactions.

On top of this all, I am grateful that students are able to reproduce my reaction routes on roughly gram scales and prove it really works. Armed with these skills, my wish for them is, that they stay close to science and technology, where their talent and eagerness to work is needed. We should care about the Bc. students. Making them interested in synthesis within these short 3 months can be crucial in their career development. Contrary to this – bad experience can cause them to have a grey look on science, which is then uneasy to apologize for.

Let us be the best mentors, we can be. The TIME is what we invest in students giving them SKILLS to allow us do MORE research.

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