Courage, Mentorship, and the Pursuit of Truth: Inside the MassURC 2026 Keynote
By Samuel Cavalheiro and Grace Chai
Content
On a warm spring morning, students from all over the state gathered at the University of Massachusetts flagship campus in Amherst for the annual Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference (MassURC). Over 1,000 student presenters joined together to celebrate the groundbreaking research being done at public universities and colleges in the state.
Reena Randhir, associate professor of biological sciences at Springfield Technical Community College, delivered an inspiring keynote address titled The Power of Scientific Thinking.
Commonwealth Honors College Dean Mari Castañeda opened the keynote ceremony by welcoming students, congratulating them on their remarkable accomplishments, and introducing UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes.
Reyes welcomed students and professed his gratitude for everyone who came to UMass. He highlighted the importance of undergraduate research not only to the overall mission of UMass, but also to the Commonwealth as a whole.
"Undergraduate research is an important part of our mission — more and more vital every day."
Chancellor Javier Reyes introduces MassURC keynote Reena Randhir, Photo: Grace Chai
After congratulating students who were presenting that day, Reyes encouraged greater cooperation and community between all state colleges and universities in Massachusetts. He later introduced Randhir to thunderous applause.
After taking to the podium, Randhir began by showering praise on her students who were presenting. She took the audience through her academic journey and highlighted just how essential her post-doctoral position at UMass Amherst was to her career.
Randhir then introduced scientific thinking as a practice that seeks truth, learns from failure, and embraces uncertainty. She emphasized the importance of scientific thinking as humanity's greatest tool.
"It gets us as close as possible to the truth; nothing else can, no other tools are available to mankind."
Randhir later discussed how MassURC builds scientific thinking in all participants. With the breadth of research, effort, and community, she encouraged students to explore and discover the research being done at MassURC. Randhir told students to consider their own methods of reasoning and thought to improve their understanding of the world.
"It's not about what you know, it's about what you think… How are you going to think on it?"
In recapping her personal thesis journey, Randhir emphasized how important uncertainty was in recognizing which direction her research was heading. To explore the bounds of knowledge, Randhir said there were two key factors: courage and mentorship. She was extremely grateful for her own mentors and gave students another piece of sound advice.
"Cling to your mentors. They truly care about your success and will lead you through your journey."
Then, Randhir encouraged students to reframe failure as discovery. During her dissertation, she was unable to find a specific gene that was pivotal to her research. But, through the advice of her mentor, Randhir pivoted to discovering the whole genome — a breakthrough in her own research.
Randhir then gave students examples from history where humans were driven by fear and bias, rather than scientific thinking, like the Black Death, the Salem Witch Trials, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
"These are all lessons for us so we don't repeat them. Scientific thinking won't solve our problems, but it will abate our biases."
Randhir contrasted these human failures by presenting some of the greatest examples of scientific thinking, like the development of germ theory and the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. It was because of scientific thinking, Randhir argued, that we are able to tackle these global issues and improve the world around us.
"These successes were because of scientific thinking. This is what you and I are capable of."
As Randhir concluded her remarks, she reminded students that they will face failure and uncertainty. She encouraged students to learn from her mistakes and embrace the uncertainty and failures that come with research.
"Uncertainty and failure will make you ask better questions and lead you to the truth."
Dean Castañeda then kicked off the Q&A session with a question of her own. She asked Randhir how students can incorporate scientific thinking when undertaking qualitative research.
Randhir used one of her students' projects, where they measured social attitudes — a qualitative research project — as an example. The student was able to link the attitudes to a number, and Randhir noted that there will always be space for scientific thinking in all disciplines.
A student from Springfield Technical Community College asked Randhir about how to not be discouraged when encountering failure and on strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome.
Randhir argued that the only way to reframe failure was to continually challenge your preconceived notions and become a skeptic. She encouraged students to engage in dialogue with the evidence and to confront their biases — a sentiment Dean Castañeda summarized succinctly as a moment to stop and reflect.
A Quinsigamond Community College student asked Randhir about how to apply scientific thinking in circumstances where it doesn't seem obvious or when you cannot verify claims.
Randhir emphasized that truth stands the test of time and that failure and uncertainty will lead us to discover the lasting power of the truths we face, even when it seems like we cannot discover the truth.
After the Q&A session, Randhir reflected on her keynote address. She expressed her gratitude for UMass and the privilege of being back where she started. Randhir was also excited for students to not only demonstrate their success on conference day, but also take the scientific thinking they developed when doing research into the real world.
"This way of scientific thinking will mold them to be problem-solvers and leaders in the world!"
Photo by Grace Chai
Featuring
Samuel Cavalheiro
Grace Chai
