The Lab Life

A great opportunity to gain full-time research experience without the need to worry about classwork is over the summer. In part 1, we’re going to talk about finding summer research positions as an undergraduate, and I share the cover letter that got me accepted into a very competitive summer research program. In part 2 (14:21), I talk about some of my major breakthrough results for this week at Boys Town, including how I got to them and how I plan on interpreting these results. So without further ado, let’s discuss!

As an undergraduate student, you will have the opportunity to take many different classes, some of which will be very useful to your research endeavors. In part 1, I talk about some of the most useful classes that I have taken that have helped me with my research, what what specifically from those courses I have found most useful. In part 2 (10:35), I finally share some of the results that I have found for this week regarding tDCS and verbal working memory, and I talk about future steps for my data analysis. So without further ado, let’s discuss!

In the last episode, we mentioned that one of the best ways to overcome research hurdles is to read as many papers as possible, but we didn’t go into too much depth into how to actually do this effectively. In part 1, we will talk about strategies that you can use to get the most out of the paper-reading process so that you can find inspiration for your research. In part 2 (16:43), we’ll continue on with my weekly updates at Boys Town this week, and I explain the neuroimaging techniques I used to determine the brain areas associated with significant verbal working memory activity in my dataset.

Last episode, I heavily alluded to the idea that research, especially at the undergraduate level, takes a lot of time and you’ll often find yourself facing tough research questions where the answer is not at all obvious. In part 1, we will talk about how to overcome these difficult moments during your research. In part 2 (19:12), I’ll share my weekly updates on my research at Boys Town, including some of my preliminary findings correlating working memory to tDCS, as well as the MRI/MEG research study that I participated in this week!

Undergraduates, unlike professors, postdocs, and phd candidates, are not professional researchers. We’re students first and foremost, which means that our top priorities still lie in the classroom. So with that in mind, in part 1, we’re going to discuss how to balance classes with research. In part 2 (12:06), I talk about the beginnings of my project involving working memory and transcrandial direct current stimulation, including the experimental design and preprocessing.

Last episode, we talked about how to get a position as an undergraduate research assistant in a research lab. But once you get that role, how should you begin? In part 1 of this episode, we talk about coming up with a research project that best fits your interests, how to actually get started with your project, and defining expectations for your project with your mentor. In part 2 (starting at 14:20), I talk about my weekly research updates at Boys Town, including the specific research project that I will be working on this summer involving working memory and transcranial direct current stimulation, or TDCS.

Many undergraduate students desire to pursue undergraduate research in order to meet premedical requirements, gain experience for graduate school, or add a strong experience to their resume. However, finding a research lab as an undergraduate can be a lot harder than it seems. In part 1, we go over ways that undergraduate students can maximize their chance at securing a research position through cold emailing, networking, and approaching professors after class. In part 2, we talk about my new research position at the Boys Town National Research Hospital Institute for Human Neuroscience, and I briefly cover the powerful tool that I will be working with throughout the summer, magnetoencephalography (MEG).