<p>Hey guys, any advice about my situation would be much appreciated. I'm rather lost as to what to do.</p>
<p>So I approached a professor halfway through the second semester about whether or not he'd have the room for taking an undergraduate student under his wing for research. He said yes, dug up a project, and asked me whether or not I had the dedication to go through with research. After thinking about it, I said yes, and from then on came a series of miscommunications and confusing situations.</p>
<p>Sometimes when I asked him questions, he would skip right over them and tell me that he wanted to see me put work into this project, to show that I'm actually invested in it. He wouldn't point me to any other resources, either. I understood the point that he was making, but it was still rather confusing to me; perhaps I wasn't showing my enthusiasm enough? I definitely get nervous around him so that wouldn't help. But I would expect that he would know that I'd need more help than most people, considering that I'm an undergraduate that's still learning the basics.</p>
<p>Recently, I went to talk to him with the PhD student in charge of his lab. We wanted to discuss the timeline of the project: Since I had come rather late in the year, we were thinking of maybe starting some training and then picking it up and starting the project in the fall semester, when I would return. But the professor couldn't talk much because he had a prior engagement; that wasn't his fault, I had assumed that the PhD student knew when he'd be free, and the PhD student simply assumed he would be free at that time. But we had a brief conversation where we talked about my time schedule, and then he explained that when he said "dedication to go through with research," he had been asking if I had enough free time to get started on, or perhaps even finish, the project before summer vacation started. I had thought he had meant whether or not I had the passion within me for a long-time commitment to research. He rather clearly expressed his frustration and disappointment by saying that I was wasting both of our times. </p>
<p>I think the best course of action to take at this point is to email the professor, apologize, and ask if I could meet him to discuss... the situation. My problem here is, what should I discuss with him? I'd love to continue the research, but I'm not sure if I'd want to do research under him. We keep on having communication issues, where he means one thing and I assume it to be another (ex: he told me he would send me an application for doing the research; I assumed he meant he would send me the empty application; he actually meant that he was sending me sample applications and thought, when I was asking to clarify, that I thought he was sending me an application all filled out by him); it doesn't help that he has a really heavy accent. I can already tell that he doesn't like me, and this is already causing me a lot of distress. I don't even understand how he expected me to start and potentially finish the project with only a month and a half left in the semester. He is a very busy man, and I am grateful that he decided to take me under his wing, but it doesn't seem like he has the time or patience to actually teach me. Neither of us were very clear when expressing our expectations, but if there are so many issues with simple conversations, I don't know how I can work under him. </p>
<p>I suppose the gist of my inquiry is how I should go about talking to the professor. I'd like to explain my thoughts to him, but how should I go about saying it as respectfully as possible without potentially offending him? Even now, I'm not sure if I'd want to go through with the research with him; I suppose that will be determined by how the conversation plays out. And I also understand that there's no way to drop the research without looking irresponsible, but I'd at least like to end it on a respectable note. </p>
<p>I apologize for the long post and I would much appreciate any feedback, negative or positive.</p>