Virtually Bridging the Safety Gap between the Lecture Hall and the Research Laboratory

Laboratory safety has received heightened attention due to a series ofdevastatingly tragic accidents in both academic and nonacademic settings.Consequently, chemistry departments at various academic institutions now offersome form of formal training in laboratory safety for entering graduate students.Although the extent of this training varies widely among institutions, it typicallyincludes an online assessment and/or minimal in-person classroom instruction.However, a significant gap exists between a lecture hall setting and the complexenvironment that comprises an advanced research laboratory. We've adapted thetechnological advances in virtual and augmented reality to bridge this gap. A set of360 degrees virtual reality lab experiences, highlighting safety infractions, have been createdfor a variety of subdiscipline-distinct (medicinal, organic, inorganic, physical, drugscreening) laboratory settings. Notable features include the accurate depiction of thevisual complexity associated with research settings, the opportunity for the trainee toexplore multiple laboratories in a self-paced fashion, and immediate feedback withrespect to the identification of safety hazards. The VR Lab Safety modules were very well received byfirst year graduate students,with greater than 85% of the respondents describing the VR experience as engaging and memorable, as a good supplement to safetyreading material, and as providing real world examples that are otherwise difficult to visualize