Hunter echoed Losick’s sentiments, saying that he could generally accommodate no more than two undergraduates a year up until this point.

Activation Energy

Professors and students insist that there is no shortage of opportunity to do independent work in a researcher’s lab —Lue estimates that over 200 a year do so—but concedes there may be certain impediments to the average undergraduate.

“If you have really demanding extracurriculars, or if you ever want to spend time outside of the laboratory, it’s really hard to manage a lab job,” says Gollogly, who said that she didn’t have the time to research at Harvard between dancing in the Harvard Ballet Company and volunteering for Women in Science. She instead chose to work in a laboratory during the summer, and opted out of the thesis track.

Similarly, Losick acknowledges that some students might feel reluctant about applying for a lab job without previous experience, though he is careful to advertise that experience isn’t necessary. Regardless, Lue expects this will make students feel more comfortable with lab research.

Additionally, Lue says that it will “lower the activation energy” involved for faculty to take on undergraduates. Viel will handle the day-to-day training in the laboratory, and faculty members won’t be faced with the traditional space constraints.

Lue has also said that MCB 100 is part of a newer, broader life sciences division—in other words, it involves, and will continue to involve, interdisciplinary research.

“In terms of the overall vision of trying to bring together multiple faculties under the umbrella of a division... this is actually a very important step to how an experimental research course can actually bring faculty together in a collaborative way.”

—Staff writer Alexandra N. Atiya can be reached at atiya@fas.harvard.edu