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Hey all,
As the title says, I am in the process of selecting a research group to join. Just to be clear this is research to be done as an undergraduate, not graduate level yet
. I have met with several professors and there are three I am trying to decide from, all who have said I am welcomed to join their lab. The list is as followed:
1) Professor "A" just joined the university and is about to start up their lab this Spring semester. The research involves catalysis and trying to discover how a catalysis functions and why it is able to speed up reactions in biological systems.
2) Professor "B" is well established in the university and currently has three research groups she handles. Her research consist of drug delivery to the brain through the use of phospholipids, the effects of certain proteins as it relates to heart and Alzheimer's disease, and oxidation effects on the body in relation to this (such as from smoking).
3) Professor "C" has been in the university for a significant amount of time, though not as much as Professor B. His research focus is in virology and immunoregulatory lipids. The virology focuses on viruses that targets insects in regards to how to inhibit or accelerate the affect. The lipid research is focused on how they act as signaling molecules for regulating inflammation in humans.
Now my thoughts and the information I have received from all the professors. Firstly I was amazed on how much insight each professor gave me in not only their research, but of the research of the other professors. All three presented me with the pros and cons from each group in a very unbiased manner. For professor A I was told that it is a complete new start up in research, which can be a disadvantage when compared to the other two who have research projects going, able to place me right away in a project. However I was also told that due to the professor just starting it, he would be spending most of his time in the lab, allowing me a greater opportunity of being mentored and having him around, whereas the other two professors will have periods of absence due to either teaching a class or going to conferences.
Professor B as stated is the most established and has many research projects to choose from. She has also stated she pushes her students in the lab to do more than just research in her lab, having them apply for other programs and entering in poster presentation contest. She is also the director of the MARC program, which I have plans of applying in the coming fall semester. Not that this would be a deciding factor, but working directly with her has the advantage of being with someone that runs a program aimed to helping students succeed in graduate studies. My only concern is with her having so many different research labs, the amount of time I would have learning from her would be limited. Her research is very interesting and having someone push you to do better and apply yourself is always a good thing.
Professor C is the one I am currently leaning towards at the moment. For starters my goals are to do research in HIV in the future, thus being in a lab that works with virus seems like a logical choice. At the same time I understand this is research done at an undergraduate level, thus I don't have to be doing research with viruses just yet, but the advantage exist in being able to learn more about virus research and it directly reflects my research interest when the admission process starts. The professor is also in the process of finishing up research in HIV, the project is unfortunately falling out due to an agreement not going through. One of the psych professors was going to provide a group of people who were at high risk of HIV transmission, but it never came through. However there is the possibility of doing a semester worth of research on samples in regards to how long a specimen can last before the virus is not detectable.
Aside from that, Professor C also mentioned a different project involving the biological effects on cells from a virus and the use of mass spectrometry, which he said is a project I could do on my own. He did say he was being very selective on people joining his research and the need of becoming very independent by mid-summer. At that time he will be gone for very long periods of time going to other universities to learn more up to date research methods. This can be good and bad, as becoming independent on a project really leads to it being your own work, but at the same time him having very long periods of absence makes mentoring limited.
Aside from all that, if I was only considering research all three seem to stand in equal grounds, as I am sure I will learn a great amount from any of the three professors. However professor C was more upfront and real, in the sense of the reality of research. He made the point on his own that getting into HIV research can be difficult due to limited funding; unless you have a clinical approach (luckily getting an MD/Phd would help with this 😉 ). He also touched on the fact that when you go through research, having a 5% success rate in a project is considered very good, and only that 5% is what goes into being published. The fact that he is so upfront with the realities of research and the current states of funding makes me want to favor him.
Phew that was a lot of text. For the TL;DR group, the summary is this:
Three professors for undergrad research -
Prof A is brand new, catalysis research, more mentoring time
Prof B very well established, three search labs in drug delivery, heart and Alzheimer's disease, director of research program I want to join, potential very limited mentor time
Prof C established, research with viruses (that fits my interest in HIV) and lipids, able to do an entire research project on my own, will have long periods of absences next fall, and is very upfront with the realities of research and difficulties in it, both funding and the actual research.
Any insight and advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!
As the title says, I am in the process of selecting a research group to join. Just to be clear this is research to be done as an undergraduate, not graduate level yet
. I have met with several professors and there are three I am trying to decide from, all who have said I am welcomed to join their lab. The list is as followed:1) Professor "A" just joined the university and is about to start up their lab this Spring semester. The research involves catalysis and trying to discover how a catalysis functions and why it is able to speed up reactions in biological systems.
2) Professor "B" is well established in the university and currently has three research groups she handles. Her research consist of drug delivery to the brain through the use of phospholipids, the effects of certain proteins as it relates to heart and Alzheimer's disease, and oxidation effects on the body in relation to this (such as from smoking).
3) Professor "C" has been in the university for a significant amount of time, though not as much as Professor B. His research focus is in virology and immunoregulatory lipids. The virology focuses on viruses that targets insects in regards to how to inhibit or accelerate the affect. The lipid research is focused on how they act as signaling molecules for regulating inflammation in humans.
Now my thoughts and the information I have received from all the professors. Firstly I was amazed on how much insight each professor gave me in not only their research, but of the research of the other professors. All three presented me with the pros and cons from each group in a very unbiased manner. For professor A I was told that it is a complete new start up in research, which can be a disadvantage when compared to the other two who have research projects going, able to place me right away in a project. However I was also told that due to the professor just starting it, he would be spending most of his time in the lab, allowing me a greater opportunity of being mentored and having him around, whereas the other two professors will have periods of absence due to either teaching a class or going to conferences.
Professor B as stated is the most established and has many research projects to choose from. She has also stated she pushes her students in the lab to do more than just research in her lab, having them apply for other programs and entering in poster presentation contest. She is also the director of the MARC program, which I have plans of applying in the coming fall semester. Not that this would be a deciding factor, but working directly with her has the advantage of being with someone that runs a program aimed to helping students succeed in graduate studies. My only concern is with her having so many different research labs, the amount of time I would have learning from her would be limited. Her research is very interesting and having someone push you to do better and apply yourself is always a good thing.
Professor C is the one I am currently leaning towards at the moment. For starters my goals are to do research in HIV in the future, thus being in a lab that works with virus seems like a logical choice. At the same time I understand this is research done at an undergraduate level, thus I don't have to be doing research with viruses just yet, but the advantage exist in being able to learn more about virus research and it directly reflects my research interest when the admission process starts. The professor is also in the process of finishing up research in HIV, the project is unfortunately falling out due to an agreement not going through. One of the psych professors was going to provide a group of people who were at high risk of HIV transmission, but it never came through. However there is the possibility of doing a semester worth of research on samples in regards to how long a specimen can last before the virus is not detectable.
Aside from that, Professor C also mentioned a different project involving the biological effects on cells from a virus and the use of mass spectrometry, which he said is a project I could do on my own. He did say he was being very selective on people joining his research and the need of becoming very independent by mid-summer. At that time he will be gone for very long periods of time going to other universities to learn more up to date research methods. This can be good and bad, as becoming independent on a project really leads to it being your own work, but at the same time him having very long periods of absence makes mentoring limited.
Aside from all that, if I was only considering research all three seem to stand in equal grounds, as I am sure I will learn a great amount from any of the three professors. However professor C was more upfront and real, in the sense of the reality of research. He made the point on his own that getting into HIV research can be difficult due to limited funding; unless you have a clinical approach (luckily getting an MD/Phd would help with this 😉 ). He also touched on the fact that when you go through research, having a 5% success rate in a project is considered very good, and only that 5% is what goes into being published. The fact that he is so upfront with the realities of research and the current states of funding makes me want to favor him.
Phew that was a lot of text. For the TL;DR group, the summary is this:
Three professors for undergrad research -
Prof A is brand new, catalysis research, more mentoring time
Prof B very well established, three search labs in drug delivery, heart and Alzheimer's disease, director of research program I want to join, potential very limited mentor time
Prof C established, research with viruses (that fits my interest in HIV) and lipids, able to do an entire research project on my own, will have long periods of absences next fall, and is very upfront with the realities of research and difficulties in it, both funding and the actual research.
Any insight and advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!
