General Does this count as undergrad research?

[AlteredScale]

So from reading posts here I have noticed that research gives a good boost towards your resume however “research” is a really broad term. Can someone who has done some type of undergrad research explain their path. Reason I am asking is because this past semester I was approached by a professor and asked if i wanted to do a research project. In a brief explanation of what I am/will do is learn with the help my professor computational chemistry with the goal of by my senior year build complex molecules and perform calculations. Reasearch to me ar first glance sounds more like being in the lab and things similar to that so I am not exactly sure what to call/think of this. Would this possibly count as research?

That would count as research. As an undergrad your goal is to understand the application of research to medicine. And that doesn’t mean you need to pursue biomedical research especially if you have a love for chemistry. Just know that the basis for medical discoveries comes from the classical hypothesis-driven study and understanding the basis for this by assisting in it will help.

Now normally when you start in research, you aren’t going to get the fancy work or a bench unless you’ve had previous experience. You Will wash dishes, read protocols and work alongside grad students or post docs. And that’s just how it works, eventually you’ll get more responsibility over time but they want to see if they can trust you with simple things like labeling pipers boxes prior to autoclave so that you know they’re sanitized

My experience was similar, i reached out to a GI physician scientist, worked as a lab tech then got more duties to become a research associate and honors student in that same lab. It took 3 years. And it was absolutely worth it. Most of everything I’ve done or am doing now in the research side do things was built off that one experience.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Research is about a systematic process to discover something new or creating something new. Each discipline knows where the "frontier" is when it comes to research, and computational modeling as you have described it can count. You need to understand the reason why this project is needed and any potential hypotheses associated with it.

 

[Goro]

Yes, that's research.

Anything that teaches you about the scientific method is fine, even if you're studying clams in Tahiti.