Are grades important when being considered for an undergraduate engineering research position?

One professor showed interest in taking me in, but said I needed to complete an intermediate programming course first.

I ended up with a B in the course, but received two C’s in my physics 2 lab course and physics 2 course (1 and 3 credits respectively) in the same semester. For everything else on my semester, I received As and Bs. (Overall GPA is a 3.073 now.) And for my first semester I got one C+, and on my second semester I got one C+ as well.

Would it be a better to wait until the following semester is over so I can harder on my grades, and then contact the professor again, or should I contact him asap when the following semester starts?

I’d do it sooner.

It really depends on the professor and you won’t know until you ask him. Do it soon or he may think you forgot or lost interest and his openings may be filled.

@boneh3ad do you know if it’s better to email him now when it’s winter break, or wait until the semester starts (in case the professor doesn’t respond to emails sent to his .edu email address when school is off)?

I’d be willing to bet that the professor is checking his emails over “break”, as many (if not most) professors don’t really have break. Classes end, but research does not. That said, I don’t think there’s any harm waiting. It may be smart to email him the week before classes start, as I’m sure the email torrent will really pick up when students are back and it could get lost in the shuffle.

A simple email as soon as you can is probably the best (though you can wait if you really want to start later). Just ask to do research and send a resume (or don’t, it’s really quite optional). If they don’t want you they will probably just ignore you, which you should expect from at least one or two professors.

Contact the professor sooner than later. In engineering, the ideal GPA to have is 3.0+.