HudsonAlpha has provided educational experiences and hands-on training to millions of teachers, students, and members of the public for the past 15 years through programs, outreach events, and formal training. HudsonAlpha’s faculty investigators play an important role in training the next generation of scientists by mentoring students, from high school to postdoctoral level, in their labs. HudsonAlpha faculty investigators have supported more than 50 graduate trainees and postdoctoral fellows, and dozens of undergraduate trainees since 2008.
“Training these future scientists offers us the chance to inspire the next generation at a critical point in their careers,” said Kankshita Swaminathan, PhD. Swaminathan has consistently had trainees and postgraduate students working in her lab since coming to HudsonAlpha. “Watching these students grow, contribute, and bring fresh perspectives to our work is not only leading them into different career paths, but it’s revitalizing our labs as well.”
Graduate and Postgraduate Lab Experiences
HudsonAlpha partners with several universities to allow graduate students in master’s and doctoral training programs to join HudsonAlpha labs to complete their dissertation research. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) are the oldest partners, having matriculated over a dozen graduate students through HudsonAlpha labs.
Since 2024, graduate students in certain degree tracks at Alabama A&M University, Auburn University, and the University of Georgia can also train in HudsonAlpha labs.
The 152-acre HudsonAlpha campus offers a unique environment where trainees can collaborate with researchers, biotech companies, and educators. HudsonAlpha’s state-of-the-art facilities provide access to cutting-edge technology, including sequencing equipment, cell culture labs, microscopes, and greenhouses.
Graduate students who trained at HudsonAlpha have been highly successful in their subsequent careers. They’ve gone on to become STEM professors, medical geneticists, neurosurgeons, and researchers, to name a few. Experiences at HudsonAlpha helped each of them reach their potential and meet lifelong mentors.
Undergraduate Lab Experiences
Grant-funded programs give undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students the opportunity to gain lab experience in HudsonAlpha labs under the supervision of our faculty investigators in both human and plant genomics. Providing students with meaningful, hands-on lab experiences takes a lot: dedicated professors, lab space and equipment, and funds to keep all of these things running year after year. In some smaller colleges and universities, this is just not possible. That’s where HudsonAlpha steps in.
There are several avenues through which undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students are being offered valuable genetics lab training at HudsonAlpha. First, undergraduate students at local universities in North Alabama can work in the labs as an elective course for credit through their university.
“HudsonAlpha is really a center for a lot of diverse kinds of research, so it allowed me to explore what avenue I wanted to pursue within plant genetics,” says Caroline Bendickson, a UAH undergraduate student who has trained in both Dr. Alex Harkess and Dr. Rick Myers’ labs. “The mentors in my lab have shown me my strengths within this field, and they’ve empowered me to pursue opportunities like presenting at conferences, writing grants, and writing a manuscript as an undergraduate, which I would never have dreamed of at this stage of my educational career.”
The National Science Foundation-funded program Boosting Retention, Interest, and Diversity through Guided Experiences in STEM (BRIDGES) offers a transformative laboratory experience for recent college graduates impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
HudsonAlpha’s HBCU Co-Op internships, offered in partnership with Alabama’s minority-serving institutions and the Alabama Office of Minority Affairs (AOMA), provide students enrolled in these institutions with invaluable hands-on experience in STEM. Interns spend up to 12 months working at HudsonAlpha under the mentorship and guidance of the Institute’s STEM professionals.
“This has been a great experience that you can't find in the classroom. It’s a great opportunity for me to develop, grow, and learn skills I can add to my resume while getting experience around IT professionals.” -Terriron Fields, Alabama A&M University
Offering training experiences beyond the lab
The newly expanded HudsonAlpha Trainee Program, led by Candice Finnila, PhD, aims to provide comprehensive training beyond lab skills. Recognizing the unique challenges of training outside traditional graduate programs, the HudsonAlpha Trainee Program offers opportunities for trainees to network with peers and leading scientists.
The program hosts professional development seminars on topics such as grant writing, intellectual property law, and bioethics in genomics. Additionally, it provides support for grant applications, conference attendance, and mentorship from renowned scientists. The training plans are dynamic, with workshops, seminars, and other opportunities tailored to the particular interests of the cohort training at the institute at a given time.
