<p>Okay..just wondering..</p>
<p>If I wanted to do research in a lab at Cornell...what do I do? Is there a website with the labs I can look through? Do I just email the head of the lab and ask? </p>
<p>Any info would be great,
Thanks!</p>
<p>If you are intersted in biology research:</p>
<p>Cornell</a> Biology :: Undergraduate Research in Biology</p>
<p>You could just talk to a professor you're interested in working with.</p>
<p>you pretty much just go to a department webpage, look at faculty profiles, and email professors. most of them won't reply or won't have space, you you'll need to email about 5-10 professors. this is the hit or miss method.</p>
<p>what would be better is to take a class with a professor, do well in it, then ask him/her at the end of the semester if you could do research with them.</p>
<p>I really wish it was 5-10 profs, it took me nearly a whole year to find a lab I really liked, but that lead me to volunteer in many dept.s and now I have a more impressive CV. Just don't give up!</p>
<p>And look @ the postings on the student employment page once in a while, the normally have about 5 RA positions posted there.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I found research positions in High School and at Cornell the same way.. The best way to do it from my experience is to do your dilligence first.</p>
<p>By that I mean, think about what areas of bio, plant sci, etc really interest you. If you are pre-med, look through professor bios at the Vet school (I found one who was doing cardiology research in dogs, and I ended up working at a hospital the next summer doing similar research in humans). </p>
<p>Once you identify a couple areas of study that really interest you, read a ton of the professors journal articles. Then when you email him/her, you have some kind of idea what you are talking about and can substantiate what aspect of their research appeals to you. They may be impressed you have a small grasp of their complex studies, and will be more likely to let you join if you have a demonstrated interest. </p>
<p>If they respond and say their positions are full, etc, kindly thank the prof for his time and ask if he knows any one doing similar research in his department that is looking for an assistant.</p>
<p>Is it rare to do research in one's first semester at Cornell?</p>
<p>Not at all, honestly, you can do research whenever you want, you just need to be proactive. Talk to the department you are interested in doing research and I'm sure they will have numerous opportunities. You can email, but I bet there will be a delay in the response time because profs are generally very busy.</p>
<p>Not at all. A lot of people I know started research in their freshman year (I had started too). I would just say to check out fields of interest to you, emails profs and see what interests you. Don't rush into it though. I am in a program where they require people to do research every semester unless you have an extenuating circumstance and my first semester was really tough so I picked a group pretty hastily and ended up regretting it. Luckily, I was able to switch out before my sophomore year and I am really interested and excited about my project. </p>
<p>What I would really recommend is come here, see your situation here (I know some people get acclimated to Cornell a lot quicker than others) and then explore your possibilities. You don't really know the situation at home and I wouldn't really recommend any commitment until you know meet the professor, location of the lab and who you would be working with or getting trained with. </p>
<p>Also, as the person above said, be patient with email. I know the professor I am currently working with didn't reply to me immediately and I thought he was uninterested since he just told me to email his admin. Few days later though, he sent me an email again saying "Did you make an appointment yet? I have a project in mind for you".</p>
<p>Finding research is a matter of emailing as many professors as possible. I suggest emailing in batches of 10-15. You might get 1-2 responses out of each batch. If you are premed, don't tell them that. Some professors don't like premeds working in their labs.</p>
<p>haha, that's a good point, norcalguy. so don't sound like or act like a premed in lab. it'll turn people off.</p>
<p>as for when to start research, it depends on what you want. if you really want to get into it, then start right away. personally, i would recommend waiting till at least sophomore year, because research takes up a lot of time (as in, all of your free time), and it's nice to just have time to do random things your freshmen year. I didn't start until second semester junior year, and I am really glad that I didn't start earlier.</p>