"Research"

[chillaxbro]

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I feel like most people here who do "research" just do work as a lab monkey. How many of you actually worked on your own projects? Is the former even worth wasting your time on?

 

[Josh7]

I feel like most people here who do "research" just do work as a lab monkey. How many of you actually worked on your own projects? Is the former even worth wasting your time on?

I plan to jr and sr year as a large senior thesis.

 

[cwrig14]

I started out as a "lab monkey" during the summer after my sophomore year in an organic chemistry lab. It was essentially interactive shadowing for about 2 months (not to mention my assigned postdoc was a d*ck.) I continued to work through the fall semester and by the end of the semester (about 6-7 months after starting) I was mostly independent. During the spring semester, I was given a project towards a total synthesis of a natural product that was completely my own. Since then, I've started a new project where I have the authority to freely order compounds (that cost less than 100$/gram) and glassware, work whenever the hell I feel like it (as long as I can present results to the PI bimonthly) and have also started to train new undergrads. I'm sure a lot of research experiences are cookie cutter type bull **** but definitely not all of them. I've loved (and absolutely hated at times!) my experiences and feel that research, similarly to a crappy 9-5 job, is what you make of it. You can lull through it and end up a lab monkey or you can bust your ass and move towards better things.
tldr: research is what you make of it

 

[gearsofwar3]

i feel you op. i did two years of research...and i didnt really gain anything out of it.

 

[Nymphicus]

I had my own project.

 

[Bcranger]

I have my own project currently and I was given the task relatively soon after joining the lab. There are several factors, such as your aptitude, time commitment, the flexibility of your PI, etc. Make sure you ask your PI what is expected of you in the lab before you join. Working as a lab money is okay as long as you learn something but the moment you stop learning something, that becomes nothing more than slave labor 😉

 

[follicle]

You have to start somewhere. I started by washing dishes in a lab during my undergrad. Now I have a post-bac research fellowship in a big-name lab and I have two independent projects.

 

[kalbrecht17]

I have my own large study on heart tissue and diabetes. I will be starting another one on lung tissue and diabetes in the fall. Its kind of luck of the draw in if you get a pi that wants to give you the chance to do studies or not

 

[NickNaylor]

You have to start somewhere. I started by washing dishes in a lab during my undergrad. Now I have a post-bac research fellowship in a big-name lab and I have two independent projects.

This is the ideal scenario. Despite how badass you might think you are, you're not going to walk into a lab and get your own project because you took some classes and know the concepts in theory. I would expect that after 6 months - a year you MIGHT get a project depending on your PI and depending on your demonstrated competence. That should by no means be an expectation though.

If you want to actually work on a real project versus just doing scut work, your best bet would be to apply to research-focused summer programs.

 

[Narmerguy]

It takes time to get your own project, and often what people call their "own project" is still grunt work. However, on some levels you don't have control over what you do because you're just an undergrad. If the PI won't give you the project, he/she just won't give it to you. I guess you could join another lab but there's no guarantee. Certainly the longer you stay with a lab, the more likely you'll get your own project as you become more trusted.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

I started out as a "lab monkey" during the summer after my sophomore year in an organic chemistry lab. It was essentially interactive shadowing for about 2 months (not to mention my assigned postdoc was a d*ck.) I continued to work through the fall semester and by the end of the semester (about 6-7 months after starting) I was mostly independent. During the spring semester, I was given a project towards a total synthesis of a natural product that was completely my own. Since then, I've started a new project where I have the authority to freely order compounds (that cost less than 100$/gram) and glassware, work whenever the hell I feel like it (as long as I can present results to the PI bimonthly) and have also started to train new undergrads. I'm sure a lot of research experiences are cookie cutter type bull **** but definitely not all of them. I've loved (and absolutely hated at times!) my experiences and feel that research, similarly to a crappy 9-5 job, is what you make of it. You can lull through it and end up a lab monkey or you can bust your ass and move towards better things.
tldr: research is what you make of it

Nice man, sound just like my first research experience in organic synthesis. Only the competent will progress from lab monkey to independent researcher.

 

[TipToad]

Guess I'm in the minority. I started out with my own project. I was never a lab monkey. Actually haven't washed a single piece of glassware yet.

But I also had three classes and biochem lab with my PI. We were also on a committee together, and he's my academic advisor. So I think it was safe of him to hire me and know that I wasn't a dumb***.

 

[nysw]

I started working in a lab as a summer student and I was given my own project to work on. I answered to two PIs, and I'd talk to both about my experiments. As I worked part time during the year, I got moved onto a handful of smaller projects depending on what the research scientists and tech needed help with. But as a previous poster has said, you have some input on your 'own projects' as a undergrad, but not thaaaaaaat much. Usually the PI already knows what they want to do.

Seriously, you've got to start somewhere. I think it's possible to still be involved in experiment planning/design while doing grunt work, if you're willing to do some literature review. Hell, even staying awake in lab meetings should be beneficial - you get to see the ins and outs of research.

 

[Renaissance Man]

I started off doing the dishes and making reagents. Eventually, the PI gave me my own "project," but that just meant I was doing experiments and keeping track of a project that he wanted done. I was self-sufficient and knew that I needed to PCR, clone, etc. However, I don't know enough about the underlying science or what experiments need to be done to get a publication. I don't think most undergrads have complete control over their projects, as funding money is tight and most PI's don't let undergrads order whatever they think they need. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Bcranger]

I am actually allowed to order reagents and primers and that sort when I need 😉

 

[Ansar]

Depends on what you mean by "own project."
As for me, when I joined the lab, the PI told me what he wants to achieve and what I should do, given my background. It was a new project, so there was more working on lit review and running numerical simulations (as opposed to "wet" bench work). YMMV a lot. I'm sort of helping a grad student do her master's thesis, but at the same time, the professor said it's going to be published, so it's not just grunt work.

 

[gmcguitar4]

As everyone else said it all depends on what you have available to you/who your PI is. Like I was helping with different research at the hospital I work at. Then got involved in a community health project. We collected a ton of data from it so I thought I would do a little study involving the data from thousands of patients from every background imaginable. Got published so it worked out well. There is just so much data floating around hospitals and all you gotta do is do a little searching and make a project out of it.

But when you are doing this stuff..don't think along the lines of "groundbreaking" but just try to find something a little interesting or maybe something that is completely obvious but you have the numbers to show for it. Just squeeze whatever you can out it.