Heidi Williams is only a third-year student at the University of Virginia, but she’s already teaching.
She teaches one of six engineering courses being led by undergraduates this semester. The program is led by the Engineering Student Council, which encourages students to fill gaps they identify across the school.
A biomedical engineering major, Williams is teaching her peers how to research in a course she took herself during her first semester at UVA.
Williams is the latest in a long line of students who have taught this course and will pass it on to future students. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
“It started as a series of lectures over Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic and grew into a class when we came back,” she said. “When the person who started it graduated, it got passed down to another student, and so on.”
The course has been running for several years, with several former students returning to guest-lecture. Brian Helmke, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, has advised the students since the program began.
Geared but not restricted to first-year students, the course introduces them to research and how to get involved with UVA labs through lab tours, student panel discussions and conversations with professors.
“The class is set up to really just be an equitable experience for anyone coming to college with any amount of experience with research,” Williams said. “We talk about sending those cold emails, all the intimidating things for a first-year student.”
Through the course, she reached out to and began researching in the lab of Donald Griffin, graduate program director of biomedical engineering, which focuses on biomaterials. Two years later, she continues her work in the same lab.
“It was really nice to get involved early so I could learn enough to gain some independence in my third and fourth years,” she said. “I appreciated how much the class set me up to find a position, and reached out to Dr. Helmke this year to see if I could teach.”
In her lectures, students walk through steps like reaching out to professors. Some even get matched to labs that same semester.
Courses such as this are taught across departments by undergraduate students at UVA. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
“It is unique from other student-led classes in that it is open to all students in engineering and beyond,” she said. “In fact, we had three non-engineering students in our class of 43 last semester.”
Other student-led engineering classes this semester include T-6 Flight Simulator Training, Engineering Living Waste Systems and Fermentation Education: Science You Can Taste.
In preparation, Williams began learning to mentor and to design a syllabus over the summer, with Helmke’s guidance. This mentorship continued through regular check-ins during the semester for support.
