Undergraduate research community assembly: Attracting students

Developing an undergraduate research program can be challenging in ecology due to lack of funds and the student motivation to “get into med school” that encourages participation in other sciences. Building a welcoming and engaging community of researchers is one way to address these challenges in order to meet the aims of your research agenda. I share some ways to build community and motivate research students, including: gamification, “friendship is magic”, and “that guy with the beard”.