Muser Celebrates 10 Years at Duke

Sarthak Agrawal presents his work at the end-of-year Muser Flash Talks.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Muser, an online portal where Duke research mentors can post their projects and undergraduate students can review and apply to work for Duke research projects on a central web-based platform. Muser offers several rounds of mentor research position postings and student applications to those positions throughout the year. Duke Muser has more than 3,000 registered undergraduate student users and over 500 authenticated research mentors who have participated since its founding a decade ago. 

Duke Muser’s goal was to change the culture surrounding academic research at Duke, making it more accessible, equitable, and visible to students. “When I was an undergrad, to get a research position, you had to go knocking on doors. When I became a professor, the system had not changed with the invention of the internet,” said Dr. Sheila Patek, the Director of Duke Muser, “So, we thought to come up with a way to make the process clearer. It was decided that we would write up a software app that would make a lot possible even with minimum staffing.”

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Duke’s research landscape is vast, spanning many disciplines and topics. Duke’s research mentors include faculty, research team leaders, postdocs, graduate students, lab technicians, and research affiliates. Muser provides a space for Duke research mentors to recruit undergraduate employees easily. More than 20% of all Duke undergraduates and over 40% of first-year students applied to Muser projects this past academic year.

When asked about the importance of mentorship in an undergraduate student’s research experience, Patek noted, “Research is so different from sitting in a classroom; it is a deep dive and a formative experience that depends on the relationship between mentor and mentee. I wanted Muser to make it really clear who exactly the student will be working with – who you’re working with is embedded into a project.” 

It can take time to develop a mentorship bond during a research experience. Muser Student Director, Samantha Richter, spoke about the mentorship relationship she built during a Muser project. “It started very traditional and formal…I was assigned some simple qualitative research tasks and some coding and spreadsheet work. But eventually, we established more of a relationship and created good banter. We would go on walks, get coffee, and [my mentor] would advise me on my career and things going on in my life. He was very helpful and understanding,” Richter said. 

Richter encouraged her peers to push through feelings of uncertainty, “If you’re too intimidated to apply for a research position because of a lack of experience, you’ll never build the experience to do the things you’re interested in. Apply even if you don’t have the research experience that you think you need, and take a leap of faith! A lot of [distrust] comes from having impostor syndrome, but you deserve your spot in the research and academic community.” 

Muser runs four rounds per year, welcoming project postings from research mentors and applications from students alike. For more information on how to get involved with Muser and the logistics of the process, visit muser.duke.edu.