Starting a new research project for PI

[desidp12]

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I am about to start research with one of the professors at my school. i am not joining a group that is already conducting research in his lab. he is starting a whole new project with me. (i go to a primarily undergrad school...no grad students). what are the pros and more so the cons of starting a new research project? I'll be researching with the professor starting this summer into fall and spring and possibly a semester more.

 

[premedicine]

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[austinap]

Is this a new professor, or are you starting a new project in an established lab? The pros and cons of working for a new professor are more applicable for grad students and won't affect you much. However, here's the list:

Pros:

• Lots of face time with your advisor -- you'll likely learn a lot directly from them, which often doesn't happen in more established labs.
• You'll have a lot of say into the project.
• If you publish with him, and he later becomes successful, that carries a lot of weight for you. Again, this is far more applicable within the academic science community.

Cons:

• He may not get tenure, in which case grad students get screwed, but that probably wouldn't affect you too severely.
• Nobody knows the name (yet)
• There can be a lot of downtime when starting a new lab: obtaining materials, doing a lot of grunt work, etc. Again, this doesn't affect you so much because most undergrads end up doing grunt work anyhow.

• He may not be used to managing people, which can be a disaster. He'll likely also be stressed out (new faculty often get put on tons of committees which eat up their time).

Most of these things are much bigger concerns for grad students where their careers are really on the line. For an undergrad aiming for med school, most of these things probably don't matter. You'll get research experience either way, so if you're interested in what he wants to work on, go for it. If the research doesn't excite you, find somewhere else to go.

If this is simply a new project in an existing lab, then there really aren't any concerns. Publications aren't the primary concern of undergraduate research, so the risk of taking on a 'hail mary' project isn't so great for you. Publications are nice, sure, but not essential to your career at this point.

 

[fish89]

I have my own project in a lab and I guess there are a few good/bad things that come along with it. I'm working on a few manuscripts right now, so I have had some experience... here is my say

-more personal time with PI = GOOD. It helps you stand out.

-Gives you the opportunity to be creative. Make ideas, run with them, publish. If you're motivated, there is a lot of opportunity to be successful in a position as open-ended as yours. feel out the lab, feel out the politics, figure out what you can or can't do, in your position, and where you can grow your project, if you catch my slant. If you manage to start building a base of abstracts + pubs (like I did) it's GREAT for applying to scholarsihps, fellowhsips, getting money, winning awards... etc. So basically it's a good opportunity if you figure out how to use it (and this depends on your understanding of the lab and the research itself). This is where the REAL research happens - it's not doing grunt work, it's thinking, analyzing, dreaming, building, discovering, and of course, publishing. But the first five first in importance (significance, meaningfulness, I guess).

-Time. TIME MANAGEMENT IS KEY. Get a lab notebook now. I've been trying to regroup every week not just to write about what I did as a log, but to plan plan plan my projects and experiments. I've spent so many nights in lab past 2am, 3am, it's really taken a toll on my study time, so figure out what you can and can't do, and set goals (lab wise and grades wise and life wise) accordingly. You need to be very structured about how you deal with your time, and how you manage your project. This probably goes for lab relationships as well, being strategic and considerate always.

 

[desidp12]

thanks guys! this was a lot of good advice! i start next week...

 

[SweetRain]

Good luck! It def has all the pros and cons listed above.

I had my own project which ultimately made me decide against grad school or MD/PhD program. Not saying that it's bad, but it helps you give an insight to what research really is like.

 

[Kanye West]

I did the same exact thing, and my research is in pretty uncharted territory...be prepared to deal with failure and frustration! But its cool, you learn a lot and actually get to think about and understand what you are doing...and you will probably have almost total control over the experimental design! Just plan ALOT and look at ALOT of literature to make sure your experiment makes sense