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 →

By: Maya Schlesinger, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Within the first few weeks at UConn, I think many of us learn how expansive this community is. Many of us come from Connecticut and Storrs isn’t too far from home; but some of us come from farther away and Storrs is a new, scary experience. As an out of state student, I fell into the latter category and I had to certainly learn how to thrive on my own—making new friends, taking initiative in classes and extracurriculars, even eating on time and the right foods. Continue reading →

By: Marisa Boch, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

The Research Experience

It may be your first time doing full-time research, and 8 hours of lab each day may seem daunting at first. The best way to ease those nerves is to know what to expect…

Typically, you will be assigned to a PI and will be working most closely with a graduate student on a specific project. You may begin the first week or two conducting literature review in order to plan the study (experimental aims, experimental methods, methods of analysis, etc.) while also learning basic laboratory techniques/procedures. In my experience, once my graduate student and I finished putting together the formal study outline, I then presented the outline to my PI to get feedback. These first few weeks may be more deskwork than laboratory work, but becoming proficient at conducting literature searches and learning how to plan out all aspects of a study are valuable skills! Continue reading →