Student Training at HFAN

At the HFAN research group, we are mentoring the next generation of scientists not only as researchers, but as scholars, collaborators, and future leaders. Our lab’s training model is designed to develop students’ technical, intellectual, and leadership capacities through a structured, student-centered approach that reflects the rigor of federal research environments while honoring the humanity of each learner.

We train undergraduates through a tiered, project-based mentorship model that combines skill-building, professional identity formation, and meaningful participation in real scientific discovery. 

From the moment they join the lab, students are invited into real scientific conversations through protocol walk-throughs and open-ended lab discussions. Many of our project directions began as student questions. As students progress in their research, they increasingly shape the design and rigor of our methods. Students play key roles in pilot testing and optimizing experimental procedures; identifying edge cases or flaws in protocols; recommending improvements based on hands-on use of software, tools, and stimuli; and providing feedback that enhances reproducibility and clarity. Their lived experience of the workflow often reveals what needs refinement long before a reviewer ever sees it.

Our Training Methods

1. Tiered Mentorship Ecosystem

Students enter a deliberately structured ecosystem of near-peer and faculty mentorship that grows with them across semesters, turning curiosity into skill, and skill into scientific leadership. Each student is supported by structured mentorship from both faculty and advanced peers—receiving personalized guidance while also practicing leadership. As such, our research becomes a self-sustaining learning ecosystem, where every new cohort inherits a stronger foundation than the last. We ensure that insight and care are passed on, not lost. 

• Emerging Researchers (new members) develop foundational skills. They build core research competencies such as data collection, literature synthesis, and responsible conduct of research.

• Research Associates (experienced members) take on roles such as mentoring new trainees, leading protocol refinements, or analyzing complex datasets. They lead the scaffolded training of the emerging researchers.

• Research Scholars (advanced leaders) shape scientific questions, co-author manuscripts, and may serve as co-investigators on funded projects. By the time students are Scholars, many are ready to enter PhD or MD programs with experience more advanced than many first-year grad students. These more advanced members spot inefficiencies, design improvements, and build tools that newer students can inherit.

Students return each year not to repeat tasks, but to level up. That longitudinal engagement enables mastery of complex tools and publication-quality analyses. Returning students also help build documentation, workflows, and decision logs that create continuity across grant cycles.

Meet our current researchers.

2. Project-Based Learning

From the outset, students participate in full-cycle research experiences. From question generation to dissemination, students make substantial contributions to projects—often in the high-stakes domain of medical image perception. All projects are selected to align with students' interests while advancing our lab’s federal research agenda.