My experience with research

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Hello everyone,


I am currently in college doing undergraduate resarch at a facility associated with my school.

I enjoy research, I like the ppl I work with sorta i mean the other interns seem to be doing very well and look happy and I just cant but help feel bad about it, im not the best and dont really talk to anyone. I have a good graduate student i work with but he rants about things, and just doesnt seem to answer my questions exactly, he goes on and on, and I just sit there looking dumb because now hes going about other things off topic and asking me like I should know things. Anyway Im pretty sure he thinks im a ******. Im not exagerating when I say this. In fact Im 100% sure ppl in the lab think I am some ******. Anyway, my PI is nice but hes not afriad to yell at you or tell you that your lacking. Which I like because the graduate student likes to sugar code things. I mean really sugar code things. He will say my work is excellent, great, when in actuality it ISN'T. Even one of the new interns noticed this and made a comment about it. I really think this graduagte student thinks he has to be sensitive or careful not to say things that I guess he thinks will offend me. anyway, this makes for a bad relationship because I dont feel comfortable asking for help. On one hand he treats me like a 2 year old and then on the other hand he makes feel dumb. Whenever he is explaining something to me, and im listening he takes that as ok this girl
Doesnt understand anything. "Lets take it to the board" as he, likes to say. In actuality he, doesnt do much of explaining on the board either . I swear he probably told the PI that he has to give me mini lectures on the board or something because now the PI has started doing the same. Keep in mind this does not happen with the other interns. In fact they seem to be doing well. They are being taught more procedures then me. I guess they are thought of as "capable". Anyway, the worst thing is that this new intern came. Ane he just so happened to have time to devote to research. I mean a lot of time. So even though he came after me, he knows more procedures than me. The PI teaches him more. He actually gets to work more with the PI. I dont get it. How come Im not shown some of these procedures? Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any advice to change my poor experience to an uplifting one?

 

[eteshoe]

You can either:

1. change labs. Maybe another PI's lab may provide you with more adequate training.

2. Stay and continue your training with some adjustments. You have to become proactive. If you want to learn a new procedure/technique, first read up on the method (google/lit search) and understand why the method is used and its strengths and weaknesses. Then ask the grad student supervising you that you want to broaden your skill set and that you know they know how to use 'method X' and that you'd like to learn how to properly use it for 'reason Y'. IMO whenever an undergrad comes to me with a mission, I'm more than willing to help. Understand your overarching aims and actively research how to accomplish them. This type of initiative is typically awarded in a lab environment. I know that if an undergrad is actively seeking to get better and eager to learn, then I'm always willing to teach them tricks. If that fails, talk to another grad student in the lab.

Also you have to change your outlook. If you think the lab thinks you are 'dumb' and don't actively work to change that, it can negatively affect your progress. You're an undergrad - you're allowed to ask dumb questions (I always did as an undergrad) and never be scared to do so. Any lab that makes you feel like making a mistake is unacceptable is not a conducive environment for undergrad training. You have to learn that all PIs and grad students have some sort of inherent bias that may affect how they treat their trainees. Adapt and make sure you get the most out of the experience. If the environment would make this task too hard, then refer to point #1. Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[bananafish94]

In fact Im 100% sure ppl in the lab think I am some ******.

Take it down about seventeen notches.

the graduate student likes to sugar code things.

*coat

Any advice to change my poor experience to an uplifting one?

When I was just starting in my lab, I was awful. I mean AWFUL. At first, essentially my only job was to maintain cell lines, and there was always contamination. I felt so low; I felt like I wasn't making any progress and that my PI thought I was grossly incompetent. So, I hit the books. I read seemingly every publication there was about successful cell culturing and preventing decontamination. I had graduate students watch me work and critique me. In the end, I identified a lot of glaring problems in our system and a lot of mistakes that I was making myself. I am now the go-to authority in the lab on contamination issues, and I have been published from my work there. If you put forth initiative and effort, it will be respected and recognized. Lamenting your issues on the internet will get you nowhere.

 

[Dandine]

First and foremost, is the research you are doing interesting? Or, in other words, is what you are working on letting you say "this is something I can call mine/this means something to me/I want to learn more"? If you're in this lab because you want to learn about whatever it is that you are researching, then that's all that matters--you wanted to be here for a reason.

As a result of that, everything that you do from here on out has to reflect that interest. You said that you enjoy research, so I'm guessing that your own issues lie mainly with how you see yourself in comparison to others. Realize that there are people in your lab that likely will have more experience than you. But you are responsible for focusing on what you can provide for both the lab with whatever project you are working on at the moment. You get better by gaining experience, so focus on doing that at the moment--read up on techniques, analyses, talk to people in your lab...not gaining experience will be impossible unless you do absolutely nothing. You may want to consider talking to the grad student you are working with about how you can improve as an intern.

Feeling inferior is normal. I joined a lab junior year that was a different ballpark from what I had been exposed to at that point in undergrad, and at the beginning I felt out of place. What ultimately helped me the most was getting support within the lab. My colleagues and especially my P.I. were invaluable resources in helping me find ways of learning the information needed to do my work, even when it felt like I had no idea what I was doing. But all throughout, I had to tell myself that, win or lose, I am going to learn from this experience because I wanted to be here among these people, studying this cool subject.

The hardest thing about research, in my opinion, is being patient to deal with it, but you will if you want to do it. Provided you actually do it. Best of luck!

 

[ifnotnowwren]

Others have given you great advice, I just wanted to add the following.

Ane he just so happened to have time to devote to research. I mean a lot of time. So even though he came after me, he knows more procedures than me. The PI teaches him more. He actually gets to work more with the PI. I dont get it. How come Im not shown some of these procedures?

How much time are you able to devote to lab work? The amount of time you are able to spend in the lab is directly related to how much you will be able to do in the lab and how many responsibilities you will be given. If you are only there for a few hours a week, they will not be prioritizing training you over someone who is able to be there for more hours, because that person will be able to do more for them. We have two masters students in our lab, the one who has been here longer comes every day for half a day, the other one comes every day for a full day and often works weekends. Guess who gets to do more and is getting the first authorship?

 

[NicMouse64]

90% of research is reading through journals and publications on your assigned project. Look through the journals, look up words/concepts you don't know, and ask your graduate student about equipment/implementation in the lab. Your graduate student isn't there to teach you, he's there to give you practical advice on your theoretical knowledge. I would especially stray away from asking your PI questions that can be figured out online or elsewhere. PIs are busy people and already have classes of 30+ to teach. Your approach to research is typical of most undergrads and basically useless. You want to do research for X reason but don't want to put in the work outside of the lab to become fluent in research. You will be trusted/rewarded with experiments based on your ability to show intellectual capacity for practical implementation of complicated subjects.

 

[Strudel19]

Your post reads like a Joan Didion novel and you didn't even try, so you're definitely not a ******. I agree with the guy above. Read more literature on the topic you're researching.