About Borchard Labs
A research platform built around one idea: every STEM undergrad should get to do real science.
The Project
Borchard Labs is a web-based scientific research simulation platform. It's the doctoral dissertation project of Mason Borchard, and it exists to solve a specific problem: too many undergraduate STEM students never get the chance to do real research.
If you're at a large R1 university with well-funded labs, getting research experience is straightforward. But for students at teaching-focused institutions, community colleges, or regional schools—and for working students, commuter students, and first-generation students who can't take unpaid lab positions—the path to research experience barely exists. That gap shows up later, when those students apply to graduate programs and find themselves competing against applicants who had opportunities they never did.
Borchard Labs gives those students a way in. Through immersive, browser-based ecological simulations, students can observe animal behavior, collect quantitative data, run statistical analyses, and write up publishable findings—all without needing a physical lab, expensive equipment, or a faculty sponsor who happens to have an open bench.
How It Started
The idea came from watching capable students get passed over—not because they lacked ability or motivation, but because they were on the wrong side of a resource gap. Mason saw students who were sharp, curious, and eager to contribute to science but couldn't access research for reasons that had nothing to do with their potential: they lived too far from campus, they worked 30 hours a week, their institution didn't have active research labs, or they simply didn't know how to get started.
The question was straightforward: what if you could build a research experience that didn't depend on geography, funding, or institutional prestige? What if the tools were browser-based, the simulations were scientifically rigorous, and the output was something a student could actually put on a CV?
That's what Borchard Labs is. The simulations let students observe animal behavior in realistic field environments, collect real data, perform statistical analyses (t-tests, chi-square, ANOVA, regression), and write up their findings in standard scientific format. The whole workflow mirrors what you'd do in an actual field research project.
What Makes It Different
This isn't a cookbook lab. Students don't follow a recipe and fill in blanks.
Observation-Driven
Students watch simulated organisms behave in real time. They decide what to look at, what to measure, and how to record it—just like actual fieldwork.
Hypothesis Formation
Before collecting data, students formulate their own research questions and hypotheses. The simulation doesn't tell them what to expect.
Real Data, Real Analysis
Data comes from the simulation itself. Students export CSV files and run the same statistical tests they'd use on field-collected data.
Citable Publications
Completed research gets submitted to the Student Research Archive, where it's faculty-reviewed and published with a permanent, citable URL for CVs and grad school applications.
Types of Research Experiences
Three ways to engage with scientific research on the platform
Immersive Simulations
The core of the platform. Interactive, browser-based field environments where students observe animal behavior in real time, collect data through direct observation, and design their own research protocols. This is the primary experience type.
Dataset Analysis
Pre-collected ecological datasets that students can download, explore, and analyze. Good for students focused on building their statistics and data visualization skills before diving into full simulations.
Video Observation
Recorded behavioral sequences that students can watch, pause, rewind, and code for specific behaviors. Teaches the fundamentals of ethogram-based behavioral observation.
Dissertation Context
Borchard Labs is not a class project or a weekend prototype. It's a working research platform being developed as Mason Borchard's doctoral dissertation. The platform will be pilot-tested with real undergraduate students to evaluate its effectiveness at building research skills, statistical literacy, and scientific writing ability.
The dissertation examines whether browser-based research simulations can meaningfully close the research-experience gap for students at under-resourced institutions. It looks at both the technical implementation—how to build simulations that produce scientifically valid data—and the pedagogical outcomes—whether students who use the platform develop the same competencies as students in traditional lab settings.
The long-term goal is a platform that any institution can adopt, giving their students access to research experiences that would otherwise require equipment, travel, and funding most schools don't have.
Get in Touch
Interested in collaborating, piloting the platform at your institution, or just want to learn more about the project? Reach out anytime.
Email: mason@borchardlabs.com