Student Research Blog

Setbacks in Your Project? We’ve All Been There

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Setbacks in Your Project? We've All Been There. By PRA Maria.By Maria Latta, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Whether you are working on lab work, human subjects research, an outreach project, or a creative endeavor, you have probably faced at least one setback along the way. I certainly have. Some of the challenges I have faced are: my experiments produced results that didn’t support my hypothesis, my IRB approval was delayed and required revisions, the organizations I partnered with underwent changes that impacted the timeline of my project, and I have just had mental blocks on how to move forward. Continue reading →

Making the Most of Your Research Experience

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Making the Most of Your Research Experience. By PRA Kavita.By Kavita Rana, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Research is a long and rigorous process and typically requires patience and determination, but it is also rewarding and helps students gain knowledge in their fields of interest. At the end of the day, your research experience is what you make of it. As you dive into research, I’d like to share a few tips I’ve learned along the way that have helped me make the most of my research experiences and shape my own research career. Continue reading →

Preparing for Your First Research Conference

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Preparing for Your First Research Conference. By PRA Ian.By Ian Sands, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Conference presentations are an essential part of any research community. Whatever field you end up doing research in, attending conferences allow laboratories to communicate their recent projects, obtain feedback from their peers, and remain informed regarding up and coming technologies that are gaining attention within that respective field. On top of that, these events allow you to represent your lab and network yourself to other interested parties for potential collaborations. With all this in mind, it’s important to take time to prepare in order to set yourself up for success and represent your research well. Continue reading →

5 Ways to Set Yourself up for Success

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By Grace Nichols, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

5 Ways to Set Yourself up for Success. By PRA Grace.So you’ve heard of research, and you know that it’s happening at UConn. Maybe you have friends that work in labs, your professors have mentioned their work in lectures, or you stopped by to see the poster presentations at Frontiers in Undergraduate Research. Whatever your exposure, research sounds exciting and important, and now you want to get involved, too! Continue reading →

20 Seconds of Courage

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By Abigail LaFontan, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

20 Seconds of Courage. By PRA Abigail.Imagine this, you’ve written an email to a professor whose research project is the one you know you want to join; you’ve read it over twice, and it states everything you need to include. But now you’re hesitating to send it because a million different possibilities are running through your head. You start second-guessing your qualifications and your reason for sending this email in the first place and it takes a while to muster the courage to hit send (or even worse, you never hit send!). Continue reading →

Taking the GRE: Who, What, Where, When

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By Ariane Garrett, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Taking the GRE: Who, What, Where, When. By PRA Ariane.Are you considering graduate school? The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) might be just the test you are looking for! There is a wealth of detailed information available online about the GRE, and although this is helpful it can also be overwhelming. Through this post, I hope to give a brief overview of the exam and discuss my experience. Continue reading →

Balancing Coursework and Research

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By Chenghong Deng, OUR Peer Research Ambassador

Balancing Coursework and Research. By PRA Chenghong.From my experience with research, the more you do, the more you feel you need to do, which makes it important to plan ahead and balance your time between coursework and research so that your academics don’t suffer.

When I first joined a research lab, I was so excited to start working on my own projects. I spent almost all the time I had in the lab. Although I made a lot of progress on my project, I did not work hard enough on my courses. Continue reading →

It Is Okay to Be Told “No”

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By Mary Vlamis, Peer Research Ambassador

Trying to get involved in research as an undergraduate student is daunting. It is uncomfortable to enter, or in this case attempt to enter, academia as it is unlike anything you have encountered before. Fortunately, we have the tools to help you with this learning curve to make it as easy as possible. The other source of anxiety most students face is the fear of rejection. No matter how perfectly you construct your first email, or how much you research for your first conversation, there is always the lingering thoughts of, “What if they say ‘No.’” And even worse, “What does that say about me?” The short answer is that it will be okay if you are told no, and that says nothing about you. Continue reading →