Undergraduate researchers benefit from developing relationships with their mentors and peers, being part of a research community, and experiencing the research lifestyle. Try to include students in as many activities as possible, such as:
- Research group meetings with your other students and colleagues;
- Social events in your department;
- Periodic meals together;
- Travel to workshops and conferences, even local ones where the costs may be more manageable;
- Informal conversations about academic life: what is graduate school like, what is it like to be a professor or a researcher, how does promotion work in academia, issues of work-life balance, and so on.
The Google CS Research Mentorship Program also connects students from groups marginalized in computing with peers and a Google mentor to support their pursuit of computing research pathways.