By Jamie Georgelos, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

The idea of “doing research” sounds so vague and pretty daunting as an undergraduate student. For people in the sciences, we usually picture a person in a white coat with a beaker doing… something. As a freshman, I wasn’t sure what those people in lab coats were actually doing. I assumed it was important but really didn’t understand it.

Research doesn’t have to be like this! Let’s take a walk through my past week to demystify what really happens behind the closed doors of a lab. Continue reading →

By Emy Regan, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Every year, on the first day of school, I have high hopes for my organization. I’ll use my planner every day! I’ll clean my whole apartment every Thursday night! Healthy dinners every night? No problem! Inevitably, in the first few weeks, these lofty goals slowly start to crumble. Why? Because I do not effectively organize my deadlines. Finally, after many years, and many organizational failures I have figured out some strategies to keep me on track past the first two weeks of the semester. Continue reading →

By Veronica Pleasant, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

When thinking about participating in undergraduate research, we often think about our interests – whether that be infectious diseases, genetic disorders, the social dynamic of college students, or the best medium to present a beautiful work of art. I stumbled into a laboratory that is working on something that wasn’t necessarily at the top of my interest list, but I am all the better for it.

I started working in Dr. Kristen Govoni’s lab in Animal Science during the fall semester of my sophomore year. As a sophomore, I was not exactly sure what my research interests might be. However, the work that her lab focuses on – the effects of maternal programming on the offspring in both neonatal calves and fetal sheep – was not something that jumped out at me immediately.  Much of the work to be done comes in the form of immunohistochemistry, PCR, and ELISA, and is tissue-based. I had always wondered about the impact of maternal environment on the fetus, and this seemed the perfect experience to explore that curiosity. Continue reading →

By Brendan Hogan, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

When I applied to UConn, I had no idea that I would be involved in research as a social science major, as I saw UConn as a center for innovative research in science and engineering. To be completely honest, I just simply thought of research as something that I would never be introduced to and understand.

However, in my first semester as a freshman, I was given the opportunity through the Bennett Research Assistant Program to work alongside Professor Morrell on the Scholio Project. The goal behind our project was to try to promote intellectual humility and public discourse in online news comment sections amid the polarized political climate of today. I was tasked with carrying out research on the latest experiments, assembling a survey for participants, and conducting initial user testing on our experimental platforms.

Here are a few tips that I learned through the course of my research: Continue reading →

By Ariane Garrett, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

My freshman year I received a UConn IDEA grant to complete an independent research project over the summer. My sophomore year, I received a SURF award for the next steps in my research. Although I worked in the same lab both summers, lived on campus, and had more or less the same routine, the two experiences couldn’t have been more different from each other. What changed? I did!

Continue reading →

By: Soumya Kundu, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

For me, summer has always been the most productive time for making progress on research. Without the regular worry of upcoming deadlines for coursework or responsibilities tied to extracurricular activities, I had the freedom to devote all of my attention to my research projects during the past two summers. However, summer doesn’t last forever, and often, work on the research project continues through the semester. Research during the semester can be much more challenging, especially if your plate is already full with classes and other commitments. If you find yourself in this situation, here are a few tips that can help you: Continue reading →

By: Ariane Garrett, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

In my last blog post, I wrote about navigating the mentor-mentee relationship and the baseline expectations you should have for your mentors. These expectations can include setting a reliable schedule, obtaining the necessary training to use equipment, and receiving the appropriate credit for your work. However, many professors go above and beyond the minimum standard and provide truly excellent mentorship to their students. This can play out in many different ways, from fostering a community within the lab to encouraging you to apply for opportunities that seem out of reach. Below I lay out some of the qualities that make for great mentors, along with some tips on how to transform your research experience from good to great! Continue reading →

By: Kavita Sinha, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Coming into my freshman year of college, research wasn’t even a blip on my radar. I knew that I wanted to attend medical school after I graduated, and research didn’t factor into my thoughts on how I would get there. Even after I watched my friends send email after email to professors, anxiously seeking a lab position, I had no interest in doing the same. It wasn’t until my parents asked that I find something to keep myself occupied over the summer that I started to look into research positions. Now, less than 50 days away from graduation, I am coming up on three years in my lab and am writing an Honors thesis on the work I have completed there. So, for those of you who ask the same “Why Research?” question that I once did, here are some of my answers. Continue reading →

By: Priscilla Grillakis, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

One of the aims of a research project is to learn about or create something that can be used to help others, and often times this could involve aspects of community outreach. Last year, after seeing a need for an improved emergent bilingual program, three of my peers and I applied for an IDEA grant.

We found a specific school to conduct our research in, and hoped that through our developmental stages of the research we would be able to help the current students. We had many steps to our project to ensure we could create the best possible program, with our end goal being to market the program to various schools and organizations to try to help as many emergent bilingual students as possible. Due to coordination and scheduling difficulties with the school we were working with, we had to adjust our project. Continue reading →