Microscopy Meets Mentorship: AIF Named a High-Impact Experience
AIF’s new designation as a High-Impact Experience highlights its role in connecting cutting-edge microscopy with meaningful mentorship, giving undergraduate students the chance to apply their knowledge, develop research skills, and make discoveries that shape their future careers.
High-Impact Experiences (HIEs) at NC State provide immersive, sustained opportunities for students to apply and expand their knowledge beyond the classroom. Through collaboration with mentors and peers, students make meaningful connections across their academic and personal experiences, engage in critical reflection, and integrate their goals into purposeful learning. By cultivating curiosity, adaptability, and lifelong learning skills, HIEs prepare NC State students to excel in a dynamic and complex world. Participating in HIEs is shown to enhance students’ critical thinking, career readiness, engagement, and personal growth.
HIEs are part of Packways: Learning by Doing, NC State’s 2024–2029 Quality Enhancement Plan, a universitywide initiative aimed at enhancing student learning and success through hands-on, applied experiences.
HIE in the Analytical Instrumentation Facility
The HIE experience at the Analytical Instrumentation Facility places students at the intersection of technical training, facility operations, and community support. Students will gain hands-on technical expertise and will be immersed in the daily operation of a shared instrumentation facility. Students leave with the ability to communicate across disciplines, manage real-world responsibilities, and integrate technical expertise with professional practices.
The AIF HIE will blend technical training, mentorship, and reflection to create a deeply engaging learning environment. Students will emerge with advanced skills, professional awareness, and a lifelong approach to inquiry and collaboration. By combining microscopy and mentorship, AIF will help NC State students see the microscopic world in new ways and empower them to make a lasting impact beyond the lab.
Through a cohort model, small groups of students will collaborate, share experiences, and learn from one another. As they advance, students will transition from learners to teachers, training new users and refining leadership and communication skills.
AIF’s 2025 HIE COHORT
If you’d like to learn more and apply to become part of the HIE at AIF, please send an email with your resume to AIF’s Director, Nina Balke. To be eligible, you must be an NC State undergraduate student.
