What do freshman undergrads usually do in research?

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JoyKim456

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Is cleaning beakers and dishes a good experience for a freshman? Is it on the right track?

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Usually you start out doing the grunt work if you have no experience in a lab. After one semester, you should be moved to actual research.
 
Its a good way to get your foot in the door.
 
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I got my research gig beginning of the fall semester as a sophomore. Depending on your PI, it can involving or grunt work. I did my fair share of cleaning vials and grunt work, but it was incorporated into my everyday duties. I currently swap vials as we need for our current project but at the same time, I'm cleaning vials, making food for the subjects, etc. It really depends on your PI and your project as well as your past knowledge.
 
Wow well for my lab we have a hs student who runs westerns, pcrs, and cell culture. She started in July too.

So yah it depends on the PI

For me, I was thrown straight into cell culture and PCRs
 
Yup, you clean the glass or do whatever stupid crap they want, and then you bug the grad students to let you do other stuff.
 
I do clinical research, but like others said you start out doing grunt work for a while and then you move to doing some grunt work and some research. The important thing is that you're on a track to doing your own research and you're learning about whatever the lab studies and how they study it.
 
Is cleaning beakers and dishes a good experience for a freshman? Is it on the right track?

Gotta start somewhere if you don't have any research experience!

I need to note: If you're simply cleaning dishes and getting out of lab then you're not getting anything out of that, might as well get paid cleaning dishes at a restaurant.

If you show them that you can work hard, be punctual, and are intellectually curious about the research then they'll push towards having a project down the road.
 
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I started out doing titrations, running various spec experiments and just pumping out calculations. The key is that I knew how to do the first and second things already.
 
Is cleaning beakers and dishes a good experience for a freshman? Is it on the right track?

I'm going to preface this by saying that my perspective might be warped from being at places where research was a HUGE part of the culture and may not be reflective of everywhere, but I'll try to be logical so that in theory it could apply to wherever you are.

No. Cleaning beakers/dishes is a job. It is not research.

You gain nothing by cleaning glassware. It is a foot in the door in the sense that you get to see people every day doing research, but the same could be said of the janitor. Straight up talking to people without cleaning dishes is the vast majority of the time far more effective. You prove nothing to the PI and others in the lab that you can wash dishes well. It does not translate into doing research. This is in contrast to other 'grunt work', ie. running gels, monitoring things, preparing experiments, etc. Those are things that you can ask questions about and try to understand what is going on so that you can progress to the next step and generate your own research questions.

Washing dishes does NOT do that and is a waste of time. Research is about what skills you bring to the table and how well you can develop new skills to help answer questions. THAT is the value in research experience. Research is not a check box. It is an experience. If you have a ****ty experience, it does nothing for you.
 
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I don't know that I 100% agree. To quote a really dumb movie:

"At some point in our lives, we all fetch coffee. Your time's now."

The glassware has to get cleaned. Someone in the lab has to do it. That person is by definition the lowest man on the totem pole - the freshman research assistant in many/most labs.

Now if that is all you are doing, and it is going to stay that way for a long time, then yes that is a problem.

But as a freshman, your job is to do whatever needs to get done to show them you are diligent and responsible and deserving of further opportunity in the near future.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that doing the dishes in a lab shouldn't be a part of your job description as the most junior member in a lab. It most assuredly should be in a wet lab. As you said, someone has to do it. I was an intern not too long ago, I understand that concept ;).

My point as you highlight is that if you are doing the dishes and that is how you describe what you are doing in the lab, it isn't going to lead to something better or something else. You need to take initiative and take charge of your own education/experience to get something out of it instead of assuming that someone will come up to you one day and say, "you've now graduated from washing dishes, time to do something else."
 
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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that doing the dishes in a lab shouldn't be a part of your job description as the most junior member in a lab. It most assuredly should be in a wet lab. As you said, someone has to do it. I was an intern not too long ago, I understand that concept ;).

My point as you highlight is that if you are doing the dishes and that is how you describe what you are doing in the lab, it isn't going to lead to something better or something else. You need to take initiative and take charge of your own education/experience to get something out of it instead of assuming that someone will come up to you one day and say, "you've now graduated from washing dishes, time to do something else."
I agree. I think that the people in charge should have a plan like "you'll do dishes for x amount of time, and then we're going to get you started doing y."
 
Cleaning lab equipment is definitely expected for any undergrad new to research (especially a freshman). They key is to start to bug the tech's and grad students and post docs in your lab after you finish your cleaning duties. The best undergrads in my lab are the ones who always ask me if I have something for them to do (I'm a tech) and are actively trying to get involved and learn something new. That being said, it helps to have a strong scientific knowledge base so that you have some idea what you are doing and can follow what you're being taught.
 
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You need to find a different lab if you are cleaning beakers. My freshman year I started working on a project with 3 other students and we published that work in 1.5 years. You need to approach mutiple faculty and talk to them about your role starting this year. If they say washing dishes then go to the next lab
 
I think one way to get out of the "rinse in and rinse out" checkbox duties is to not only be there for a set amount of time but also ask the postdocs/researchers/PI/whoever what their project is and how you can help in any small way.

It can even be something small as "can I aliquot the PBS in 10 50 mL tubes for you so you can get started on your procedure X sooner" or whatnot. Stick around for a little bit too (until they either tell you to leave or there really is nothing to do left) when you're done unless you really have to run (class, studying, deadlines, etc). There have been days where I was only supposed to do 1 or 2 things and leave in 1 or 2 hours but I saw by the time I was finished, that people were still doing stuff (westerns, qPCR, whatever) and I stayed around to shadow/watch them do it. People take notice and will give you more responsibilities over time if they sense you're interested, responsible, and enthusiastic. They won't if they feel you're just gunna checkbox "research" and sit around not looking to do more than some grunt work.
 
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