<p>I'm gonna be a sophomore in mechanical engineering at ASU. I wanted to get involved in research so I can get a more concrete idea of what I wanna do. The lab I'm gonna be working in is more of a chem-E lab, but there are mechanical aspects to it so I decided to go with it. I'm just kinda nervous, cause my grad student/mentor has given me a ton of papers to read, and the majority of it makes me feel like a third grader.
I have read them over and over, and I'm really trying to figure it all out, but obviously it's not really making much sense. </p>
<p>Any former undergrad researchers have any advice? I wanna ask a bunch of questions to my grad student but I don't wanna ask the obvious/dumb questions. Any advice there? </p>
<p>Ask all the dumb questions! A lot of research topics are well beyond what a sophomore student would know already, and if the grad student is willing to take you on as mentee (?), then they are likely happy to answer any and all questions you have. As you read more and more into the literature, it will get easier, but definitely to start out, don’t hold back for fear of looking dumb. When reading papers in unfamiliar topics, I find it helps me to annotate them with any questions, comments, whatever, and also to google any unfamiliar terms or concepts</p>
<p>You’ll probably feel that way for about 3-6 months, if not longer, and you probably won’t be really comfortable with the stuff until you’ve spent about a year there.</p>
<p>It’s like that for most people joining a new lab, especially an undergraduate sophomore. This is completely normal.</p>
<p>You are an undergrad, and one who is fairly early along in your studies, so it shouldn’t surprise you that you don’t feel like you know this stuff already. Ask the question. Most graduate students are willing to help you out, but will be less likely to do so if it seems like you aren’t making an effort on your own so keep that in mind.</p>