FFUSars pairs focused lab/research time with a seminar that helps our students learn important self-management skills. FFUSars have three core requirements:

1. Work 400-480 hours (10-12 weeks) in a lab over the summer
2. Pass both semesters of the 3-unit FFUSars seminar; the class is P/D/F
3. Submit a short journal article for peer-reviewed publication by the end of IAP

The climate crisis is no longer a prediction. It is here. One of the keys to tackling the climate crisis is the clean energy transition. And while solar and wind, among other ways of generating energy, are becoming more common, and we need them right now, we still need something even more efficient: fusion and fission. But while the global demand for carbon-free energy continues to increase, while the number of people qualified to work in both fusion and fission is not keeping pace. Fusion and Fission Undergraduate Scholars (FFUsars) addresses multiple challenges:

• Increases the pipeline of students entering fission and fusion
• Provides both undergraduates and mentors (graduate students, postdocs, and research scientists) formal training in becoming better mentors/mentees
• Teaches comprehensive set of “essential skills” that are rarely taught formally

Working in a lab does not guarantee that students will learn the skills necessary for becoming successful researchers and there is no guarantee that a mentor will teach a UROP everything they need. FFUSars combines a UROP with a seminar that makes visible the “hidden curriculum” of research. Teaching and learning these skills becomes programmatic not only by engaging our undergraduates in a two-semester sequence, but also by running a parallel semester of training for the mentors.

FFUSars places relationships at the heart of its programming. Great mentors aren’t born; they are made with intentional pedagogy and ample opportunities for professional development. Our mentors attend a semester of training, a combination of MIT-specific content and the evidence-based curriculum developed by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). The programming also includes extensive community building opportunities, mandatory one-on-one meetings with Rachel, and multiple workshops on how to build and maintain relationships (with each other, mentors, professors, and in networking situations).

While many or all of the skills students need to be successful can be taught and learned, just being in a lab doesn’t teach undergrads these skills. So we set out to try to teach out students how to: 

• Communicate about their research with a variety of audiences, both within the Institute and outside; 
• Use reflection to build self-awareness and deliberateness in how one spends their time and attention. This includes knowing how to set one’s priorities and goals and how to say “no,” and how to structure one’s time to achieve those priorities and goals, including building time for rest, socializing, and other aspects of self-care: how to create personal routines to set oneself up for success
• Make the best use of the resources here at MIT, including the library and the librarians; 
• Build the kind of relationships that make academic research and associated work not only possible, but satisfying and, dare we say it, fun. 
• Cultivate habits that engender deep work;
• Cultivate scientific and intellectual curiosity and the skills necessary to act on them
• Gain a genuine understanding of what it takes to work in a lab – not just the skills associated with carrying out the research (e.g., TGS), but how to mentally frame how one goes about that work; learning that success in a lab is not the same as just sitting down and plowing through a p-set;
• Take a growth-mindset approach both in and outside the classroom, including how to deal with “failure”;
• Be a professional, including how and when to communicate with a supervisor, achieving milestones, and showing up when you say you will.

It’s easy to see why these skills could be helpful to students as individuals, but FFUSars has a broader focus: building the nuclear workforce of the future.

FFUSars pairs focused lab/research time with a seminar that helps our students learn these important skills. The requirements are simple. To achieve all of the goals above, FFUSars has three components:

1. Work 400-480 hours (10-12 weeks) in a lab over the summer
2. Pass both semesters of the 3-unit FFUSars seminar; the class is P/D/F
3. Submit a short journal article for peer-reviewed publication by the end of IAP