Why PURSUE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH?

UG students in science disciplines are typically interested in health professions (medical school, dental school, physician assistant program, etc),  graduate schools (pursuing an MS or PhD), jobs (with science and technology companies, high school science teaching, state and federal organizations, lab assistants in educational and research settings in industry).  Although, this is not an exhaustive list of opportunities that are available to science graduates, it gives us an idea of some of the possible career paths.

Here is a potential scenario: Imagine you are a medical professional and you enter a room with a patient waiting to be seen, you have to be the one deciding what approach to take with the patient, and you may not have all the necessary information. So you will have to decide how to get that information and what information is the most important.  In this situation, you will have to apply your knowledge and problem solving skills, which includes safety of the patient, communication, critical thinking, analyzing patient data and attention to detail. To provide the best medical care to this patient, you may have to go above and beyond. These are same set of skills we are using when we’re doing in science research as well, even though you may be interacting with chemicals or microscopic organisms or computer programs and not human or animal patients. Instead of interacting with patients, you will be interacting with your peers and personnel on your research team.  

Participating in UG research provides students the opportunity to gain necessary skills which are translatable to several professional settings.

• Most importantly, have curiosity and genuine interest in the topic of research. 

• Be motivated by acquiring expertise.  The desired outcome of research is becoming an expert on the research question you are investigating.

• Be self-driven and willing to work individually or in groups outside of the classroom.

• Devote time consistently to research while balancing course work.

• Be reliable in attendance and completion of work.

• Take ownership of your tasks, ask questions and seek answers.

• Work collaboratively and amicably with others.

• Be honest and truthful in all communications.

Step 1: Read through the webpages of the Faculty at Iona University and identify faculty (could be more than one) whose research sounds interesting to you. 

Step 2: Schedule appointment(s) with them to talk to them about their research and their requirements to participate in research.

Step 3: Carefully think about what each faculty discussed with you and make a decision on who you want to work with. 

Step 4: Meet with them again if you need to discuss any questions or concerns you have. 

Step 5: Once you make up your mind about who you want to work with, let the faculty know that you are interested in their research and are eager to work with them.

Step 6: Once they approve you joining their research team, discuss with them to figure out an appropriate time/schedule to start working. 

Other options:

There may also be research opportunities in lecture or lab courses. If you are interested in continuing a research project that you worked on during a course, speak with the faculty about possibly continuing the work. 

There may be summer research programs through which you can participate in research.