<p>Hi, everyone - I'm a prospective 2014 student and had some questions about research at Smith. Everyone on this board has been so helpful in every way, so I figured this would be no exception ;) </p>
<p>Basically, my situation is that I've been accepted at Smith - I'm pretty sure I'm going to be an engineering major (possibly physics, but most likely engineering). Anyway, I know that the STRIDE program provides an opportunity for research, but for those of us who aren't STRIDE scholars, how are the research opportunities at Smith? Are they readily available, or does one have to really be a "go-getter"? I'm a little bit shy, and while I of course hope to seek out research opportunities no matter what, I'm really not the most assertive person. Basically, I'm just wondering if anyone has any personal experience with this in terms of how easy it is to find research, the number of engineering students engaged in research, etc.</p>
<p>I'm interested in ultimately heading to grad school (right now thinking of a Ph.D. program, possibly, but it's a long way off), so research is obviously a very important thing to me. I have some offers from other schools that are giving me more concrete/guaranteed research opportunities, but I'd love to hear more about this aspect of Smith.</p>
<p>You have to be a bit of a go-getter, but yes, you can do research at Smith without being a STRIDE scholar. Ask your adviser if he knows of anyone looking for research assistants, read the job postings, follow up if you hear about an opportunity by word of mouth, etc. It’s never a guaranteed thing, but with a little bit of leg work it shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>(And you’ll get lots of practice at being assertive, which will help you out in the long run!!)</p>
<p>Yes; my D is the proof. She did not receive a STRIDE scholarship. She did take an interterm course with a professor her first year and he encouraged her to apply for a summer research position. She had a successful summer of research. She’s now a second year student and doing research in her academic advisor’s lab. She’s staying over the summer and will continue with the research over the next two school years as well. Most important for getting these positions, besides asking, were demonstrating an abilitiy in her class and lab work, and a passion for her field of study. She got to know students and professors within the department. Then she started asking about opportunities for research. Good luck! It seems very likely you can find research positions without the STRIDE.</p>
<p>Remember too that if you are a humanities scholar you can apply to be a Kahn Institute Fellow. The Kahn Institute is a humanities research institute located on campus, and they take the best and the brightest of the humanities students on as paid research fellows, doing research and producing papers in various disciplines. It’s pretty competitive, but very rewarding, there are all kinds of special Kahn events throughout the year, and one of my friends who was a Kahn got an all expenses paid (by Smith) trip to a conference to present her psychology research.</p>
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Borgin, wasn’t there a non-assertive Smithie five, maybe six years back?</p>
<p>CD, there are lots of research opportunities if you do a little digging. You can start with the profs who don’t link up with any of the STRIDES…there are more research openings than there are STRIDES to take them. Also, get to know profs in your department(s) of interest as early as possible, starting with the first courses you take. And things don’t have to link up neatly: D was a Gov/Math major with a developing interest in Econ…her STRIDE was in Computer Science, go figure, and she was very happy with it.</p>
<p>I was in a similar position to you, where I did not receive a STRIDE, but was interested in doing research. I contacted a professor (with whom I hadn’t had any classes or prior contact) whose research I was interested in about working in her lab. Although she didn’t have any jobs available at the time for semester work, she told me to apply for a summer position. I will be working in her lab this summer, which I am extremely excited about. I was also offered (without asking) a research position within the engineering department for the spring semester, which did not work out due to funding issues.</p>
<p>So in short, there are definitely research positions available for non-STRIDE students within the engineering department. Just make sure to be on the lookout for them, and if there’s a lab you’re really interested in talk to the professor about it. Also, it helps to stand out in class a bit (the position I was offered for the spring was because other professors had named me when asked by the teacher for recommendations for students).</p>
<p>The Kahn Institute is absolutely NOT limited to humanities majors, and it’s for juniors and seniors. You apply in the spring for a year-long fellowship beginning in the fall.</p>
<p>You don’t need to be a Kahn Fellow to have Smith pay all expenses to attend conferences. Academic departments and the SGA Conference Fund have discretionary funds to finance students’ participation at conferences.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone! All this information has been really great so far, and very helpful in reassuring me about research opportunities at Smith!</p>