Research experience is one of the most highly valued qualities in a candidate in the field of science. Even if the experience is outside the realm of the next job you apply to, it shows that you are committed to research and the scientific method. It can make a huge difference in future applications and increasing your understanding of a topic to conduct research in the field. While it is important to do this as early as possible, it is also important to research something that you are interested in. I have put together a timeline list of how to conduct research as an undergraduate, either through your undergraduate institution, other campuses, or in industry:
- Find a field you are interested in – This advice can apply to as broad or as specific a field as you see necessary. I was interested in biology and chemistry and started reading about the field of biochemistry, but I did not know I wanted to work with proteins until I joined a lab. It is also common to pursue a field because of a particular goal of finding a solution to a problem, such as cancer research. Just make sure this is something that you find exciting, you should be able to talk about it with your family and friends and find joy in explaining it to them. You can change your path later depending on what interests may arise as you develop into a research scientist, but it is good to have a foundation in something you genuinely want to study.
- Reach out to faculty and students – The best advice I can give about getting involved in research, no matter what point in your career, is to talk to people who do it. They will have the expertise and connections to get you involved where you want to go, and they can be valuable help as mentors along the way. The way I went about this was to email several professors whose research I found interesting. I discovered this by searching for their lab websites at my undergraduate institution UCSD, but this can be applied to other schools and even industry (however, in industry the research descriptions may be more broad than project-based). My email to the professors described that I was interested in their research, what classes I had taken, what I hoped to learn out of the experience, and that I was eager to learn through hands-on lab work (to work in industry, it is likely necessary to apply for an entry-level position, such as a research assistant). I would then schedule a meeting with them to see if our interests aligned and if they had need of an undergraduate researcher. If applicable, I would also meet with the graduate student(s) who would be mentoring me to make sure we were compatible. It is a good idea to have a few options and keep in touch with people in your field, as most will know each other and this is how you build a network among research scientists.
- Outline what your goals are – Graduate students are very busy, and so are undergraduates. Working together can be a helpful partnership if both parties make it clear about what they hope to gain from the research. It is important to ask yourself the following questions, and then be clear with the graduate student, postdoctoral scholar, professor, etc. who may be training or working with you in the lab:
- How often are you able to work?
- How long will you be staying in the lab? Weeks, months, years?
- What laboratory techniques or skills do you have experience with and what are you hoping to acquire?
- Will you be able to conduct your own research project with enough training and experience? Would you want to?
- Are there fellowships and/or grants that you can apply to for funding or to better outline your training?
- What are your career goals and how does research experience fit into them?
- Set a schedule – Again, everyone’s schedules in a research lab is busy. It is important to be clear with your mentor when you are available to work. In most cases, this is during the work week Monday – Friday, but some graduate students may work on the weekends. Make sure this aligns with your interests, it is helpful to set boundaries early on so that research is accomplished but everyone is happy to come to work.
- Take notes on EVERYTHING – There is a lot to learn in the early days of working in a lab. Besides all the details like where things are and how to find them, you will be learning a lot of techniques that you have probably never seen before. I found it most helpful to keep a document of all of the protocols and techniques I was learning. With every repetition of these steps, I would go back and add more details. Later, I would read through my notes and look up anything that I didn’t understand, such as why it was done this way or the concept behind the technique. I could make links to sites that had helpful tips. This helped me to become independent quickly so that I could be as helpful as possible to my graduate student mentor and do my own research projects.