Some things I'm curious about:
1) What do you research?
2) Do you like the PI?
3) Do you work with a grad student/post-doc, and do you get along well with them?
4) Do you have your own project?
5) How many hours do you put in?
6) Do you enjoy it?
7) What's the worst part?
Let me preface this by saying I've been employed by three different research labs since the summer before my freshman year. This is because I'm involved with a summer program that places students, high school and undergrads, in research labs and we then work full time for approximately three months full time. Two of my labs fall under that spectrum while my third lab, my current lab, is more credit-based and academic year-round. I'll be referring to them as
A, B, and C.
Lab A:
1) Lab A was the summer before my freshman year and I worked in a biomedical/optical engineering lab. My particular research project focused on the effects of NSAIDs such as DFMO and Sulindac on the mucosal linings of mice with colon cancer.
2) I almost never saw my PI because she was a VIP in the department. When I did see her, though, she was really kind and welcoming. She helped me understand optics despite me having little to no physics/math background.
3) I mostly worked with the Lab Manager. There was also another undergraduate in another program that I helped. I did work with some graduate students but they were in the beginning stages of their program so not much was going on with them. I got along with everyone.
4) They didn't give me my own design-to-finish project, but they did give me a subset of the overall research to work on. It was only a summer and I was only a freshman so I didn't expect much.
5) 40 hours a week for about 3 months.
6) I was really sad to go. I really loved the atmosphere as well as the lab itself. The material, albeit hard, was very interesting and I actually felt as if I advanced science.
7) Some of the scut work I guess? As a freshman I wasn't really qualified to do some things, such as mouse dissections.
Lab B:
1) Lab B was this past summer. I worked with formulation of pharmaceutical microbubble phase-change contrast agents.
2) Eh. I liked him because he taught me a lot and he was present all of the time if I had any questions, but I felt as if he was way too...nosy. He attempted to establish an informal relationship with me at first (chatting about family, health problems, etc) which made me really uncomfortable. There was also a miscommunication mid-summer because of another lab worker and it kind of soured the atmosphere.
3) I had an entire 400sqft chemistry lab to myself (after the other lab workers left). He had his own office that he always holed himself in. I mostly worked alone.
4) My PI was too self-focused to even consider giving me or the other lab worker our own project (one of the reasons she left.) I was mostly his assistant. It was kind of crappy.
5) 40 hours a week for three months.
6) I enjoyed being independent and responsible for the lab, but I did not enjoy working under the PI because of his personality and belief that student workers shouldn't have their own project because it'll go to waste.
7) The lack of things to do, the PI's thought that summer students can't have their own project because nothing will be completed, the lack of belief that the PI had that possibly a student could actually get a project done, etc. I don't think I'd return.
Lab C (yay!):
1) My current lab. I've been here for about a year and a half and I find it relaxing. It's psychology behavioral research focusing on issues involving visual perception.
2) I love my PI, even though I almost never see her. When I do see her, she's so warm and caring and very intelligent. She is tough but kind and her expectations are laid out and clear.
3) I work with a specific graduate student (who is now in her 5th year, graduating in May hopefully) and I help her run her subjects for her experiments. I also help with her data entry. We get along really well.
4) I do not have my own project for several reasons. Mostly, I don't want my own project. I was going to do my honors thesis in this lab but I just recently changed my mind and withdrew from the program. I'm still in the lab but I am just acting as a research assistant, not a researcher. Also, my interests have considerably changed since a year and a half ago and it would be like swimming through molasses if I had to do a psychology-based project.
5) About 10 hours a week during the semester.
6) I love it. I come here whenever I just need to study. I'm very efficient at the tasks they give me so it allows me a lot of free time that I can use to chat with the grad students or study.
7) I would say the worst part is the PI never being here. I feel as if she were more involved maybe I wouldn't have fallen out of love with visual perception and maybe I'd have my own project. After this year, I will probably retire from research labs and focus more on clinical work.
TL;DR- I've been in three labs, they each have their own pros and cons, but a change in interests have made me look elsewhere.
Sorry it's so long!
