The transition from undergraduate to graduate school can be very challenging. In undergraduate programs, students gain knowledge and apply it to problems in chemistry to which scientists have answers; however in graduate school, students obtain skills on how to solve unresolved problems in chemistry. More importantly, in graduate school, students are required to develop the ability to think scientifically and generate original ideas. For many graduate students, this process can be difficult. This process becomes a reality for third-year organic chemistry students, as they submit and defend original research proposals. To help students tackle this challenge, professor Zachary Wickens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a new graduate-level class.