When one of Herb Schellhorn's grad students applied for a job at Toronto's prestigious Centre of Forensic Sciences, not only did they need a reference from their supervisor, they also needed to submit the lab notebooks they'd maintained while here at McMaster.

Schellhorn wasn't at all surprised that the world renowned Centre wanted to see the lab notebooks, “they're looking for scientists who know how to keep a meticulous record of their experiments and their findings. Whether it's testing DNA for the Centre for Forensic Sciences or documenting drug experiments for a pharmaceutical company, the lab notebook is essential to the employer, government agencies and to patent offices,” says Schellhorn, a professor in the department of biology.

Schellhorn has been teaching biology for 15 years at McMaster and has seen students from a variety of backgrounds and training coming into the first-year intro biology course. Many, however, have no idea how to maintain a lab notebook, or recognize that this aspect of their science education represents a marketable job skill.

Science and technology firms engaged in research and development have adopted common standards for research and many, including the major pharmaceutical companies and corporations such as Dupont and Dow Chemical, have their own lab notebooks.

“It only makes sense that we train our students to industry standards. The job market is competitive and if we graduate students who know how to maintain a proper lab notebook we are giving them a practical advantage,” explains Schellhorn.

Commercial lab notebooks are often expensive and do not prepare students on how to best record their observations and results. Schellhorn believed he could develop a notebook that would be useful for biology students but could also be used for first year science courses taught to engineering and health sciences as well as upper level courses in biology and other departments.

His solution was to publish a reasonably priced, student-friendly, hands-on, practical lab notebook for Mac undergraduates that enforced the basic concept of a laboratory notebook as an essential central record of the work done in the lab. “Simply put, if it's worth doing it's worth recording properly,” says Schellhorn.

Schellhorn also envisioned that any profits from the sale of the notebook would be used by the department of biology itself, but directed primarily towards a bursary in the name of a retired faculty member. Schellhorn chose George Sorger, noting that the recently retired professor emeritus was a logical choice.

“George has been an inspirational teacher to many students and this has been recognized by the McMaster Students Union (MSU) with teaching awards, most notably the prestigious MSU Lifetime Achievement Award for Teaching. It is entirely appropriate that, through this bursary, his achievements continue to inspire future generations of students,” says Schellhorn.

The added bonus for the George Sorger Bursary in Biology is that the Ontario government recently re-established a student opportunity trust fund program that will match private and corporate cash donations used by universities to set up endowment funds. The matching formula of the new Ontario Trust for Student Support means that the bursary will doubly reflect the success of Schellhorn's laboratory notebook.

The lab notebook is in its third edition and over the last two years has been used for introductory and second year biology courses, and adopted commercially in industry and government by ASM Press, the Public Health Agency of Canada and many research laboratories. The $10,000 profit from the sales of the McMaster Student laboratory notebook, coupled with the match from the province, will create a $20,000 endowment fund. A percentage of this fund will provide a bursary opportunity for a fourth-year biology student who demonstrates financial need.

The bursary gives preference to students who have demonstrated a commitment to improving the community, a further tribute to George Sorger's dedication to education and research excellence for the public good. Sorger is well known across the city for his work with local high schools and his dedication both locally and internationally to environmental issues.