<p>Our D is a freshman majoring in computer science. She was accepted into a program at her university for young women majoring in comp sci. The program offers wonderful opportunities for the girls (living-learning community, mentoring, internships, scholarships, etc). Last night we attended a reception for all the students in the program. Our D introduced us to her faculty adviser, a female comp sci professor originally from Harvard. She and our D have already met twice since school began in August. Her adviser spoke very highly of our D. She told us that most of the young women who pursue a degree in comp sci at the university are her top students and are extremely bright. She explained that she would like our D to work with her on an artificial intelligence research project next semester. I never imagined that she would be offered such a fantastic opportunity as a freshman. Our D also interned at a local university research lab as a high school senior last year, which led to a paid summer internship this past summer. They have already invited her to work there again next summer. She is VERY excited about these outstanding opportunities.</p>
<p>I was curious if it is unusual for a freshman to be invited to do research with a professor? I assume that most professors prefer grad students.</p>
<p>I'm not sure I posted this in the correct forum.</p>
<p>Often, the professor’s role in research is being the concept person who writes proposals for grants. Taking the concepts to concrete models and/or experimental programs is typically the role of a graduate student. Undergraduates are valuable for more routine work such as running test cases of a model or doing experiments under supervision of the graduate student or professor. So, the undergraduate is a valuable member of the research team working at a level appropriate to their background, experience, and education.</p>
<p>It is somewhat unusual that a freshman will have the requisite background, etc., to contribute to a research program. I’m guessing your D’s university-level internships as a high school student, combined with her performance in her current academic program, made her one of the exceptions. Her professor may also be using this experience as an evaluation/recruitment tool for graduate studies. I’m sure you’re proud of her and justifiably so!</p>
<p>nope, my son has worked with 4 different professors… (began in first semester freshman year, this is now first semester 2nd year). at their request after meeting with them…he is in a cancer lab now extracting DNA, so will probably stay with this one for a while…part of his honors program is geared towards providing research experience. His honors program has days set aside where all research that is being done is presented, the sci tech honors kids can go and find out about it, speak with the professors, and determine if that is a lab they want to work in.</p>
<p>It sounds like you suspect something hinky in the invitation?</p>
<p>It could simply be that the prof is looking for a first year student with solid credentials and a lot of potential who could be around for the next few years to provide stability for the research project? I know when our department hires student workers (not nearly as impressive!), we often want to find a freshman, so we can train them and have them grow in the position over the next few years.</p>
<p>No, not at all. I was just very surprised because I didn’t think students were invited to participate in research until they were juniors or seniors (or grad students). It’s really quite an honor.</p>
<p>While it’s not unheard of for freshmen to get invited to do research I wouldn’t say it’s common. My nephew got invited to work in a lab orientation week at Rice - he had sent some e-mails to a professor over the summer.</p>
<p>At Smith, some 45 students receive paid, in-term research positions with faculty for the first two years. (It is coupled with a $15k merit aid scholarship for four years.) This includes research in the humanities, which is extremely rare among undergraduates anywhere. My d. parlayed hers into a 5-6 year fellowship at Princeton.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter was invited to do research in Biology during her first year, then stayed for the summer, then continues in 2nd year. Another friend’s son in Biology pre-med even did research at the high school level and continued to college. Nothing to it :-)</p>
<p>Remember that unlike biology or chemistry or engineering where one newbie freshman can physically ruin an experiment etc due to inexperience, comp science is a bit more ‘forgiving’ (worst case the program gets messed up, get it from backup, repeat as needed).</p>
<p>It’s pretty common at my college I think, although most weren’t invited to a lab but rather found the position on their own. The best of luck to your daughter- hope she’ll enjoy her research experience!</p>
<p>My son (CS and math major) approached a professor shortly into his freshman year and asked if he could get involved in some research. He worked with the group for no pay during his freshman year, and was then offered a paid position for the summer. He continued to work (paid) with this and other professors on a variety of projects through the end of his junior year. He did a private industry internship the summer after junior year, and I suspect his research experience was part of the reason he got the internship. They offered him a permanent position and paid him to work for them (remotely) half time during his senior year. </p>
<p>I don’t think his experience was particularly rare, but I don’t think it was common, either. He entered college with a lot more math than most undergraduates (several post-calc courses at a university) and some programming experience. The undergraduate research was extremely valuable for him, not just because it provided well-paid employment t/o college, but because he learned a lot more about the CS field than he would have if his experience had been limited to classroom projects. Having his name on publications, giving presentations to other researchers and networking will probably pay off for some time to come.</p>
<p>Your daughter is fortunate to have this opportunity–as I am sure she knows.</p>
<p>It tends to be more common at smaller colleges, especially LACs where there aren’t grad students to be easily found. It’s not unheard of at larger colleges or universities (well, it is at some of them), but it doesn’t happen that often, so congrats to your D!</p>
<p>I think in our large university, if there is a special program such as the one you describe, and faculty actually show up and meet freshman parents at the reception (which itself tells you its a bit special), it would be a fairly typical. Faculty have no problem finding and bringing new students they like on board. Every year I see one or two freshman that stand out in my class and I’m interested in having them get involved in research (and consider an academic career). Having said that, even though its probably normal in that program, I don’t believe she’d say something like that unless she thought your daughter had the right qualities and stood out to her.</p>
<p>They don’t allow no pay jobs at DS’s school to keep students from being a source of free labor for the faculty.</p>
<p>DS, as a freshman, approached the Professor of a class he was taking last spring and asked for a research summer job. Few days later, the Professor said yes, and he worked for him all summer under one of his grad students. The said Professor was just awarded a Nobel Prize :D</p>
<p>Perhaps I should say son “hung around and observed stuff” during his freshman year, rather than “worked”. I wouldn’t want to get the professor in trouble for using unpaid labor.</p>