<p>How likley and abundant are research opportunities for undergrads? Also, how easily can freshman apply for these grants?</p>
<p>The Undergraduate</a> Research Support Office is a great place to get ideas about that. Note that most of these programs apply to both Pratt and Trinity. One underused program I'll point out is the Dannenberg</a> Award which is for undeclared students in Pratt & Trinity to work on projects with faculty (note - even though Pratt folks pre-select a department for purposes of advising, you're pre-major until at least sophomore year, generally)</p>
<p>how easy is it for research ops freshman year, 1st semester?</p>
<p>Not very hard if you are willing to do them. There's a job fair at the beginning of the year and there will be departments there that will have jobs in a lab and stuff. Basically there are 3 ways:</p>
<p>1) Job fair
2) The Chronicle job listings often have research job openings
3) Go the department that you are interested in (in person or on their website), look at professors' pages and their research areas. Find one that you want to do and email them and beg for an opportunity. A lot of professors are quite willing to offer something (no guarantees on pay though probably volunteer work).</p>
<p>When do you normally do the research? During school semester year or summer? For how long?</p>
<p>Do you have to have prior experience (during your high school year) for the professors to consider you at all?</p>
<p>You can do research any time. Some people start out during the year some start during the summer. Length depends on what you do. Some professors have projects with varying durations, others will offer you a job for as long as you want in their lab regardless of project length. Usually no prior experience required for entry level work only interest is needed.</p>
<p>I wouldn't really recommend starting research the first year unless you're the ultimate gunner. You'll have enough **** going on as it is, spending 10 hours in a lab a week is the last thing you want to have to do as a freshman</p>
<p>I would respectfully disagree. I know of a few freshmen who did well and started research this year. One of them worked in a bio lab doing some cell culture and cloning stuff. He's not the overzealous achiever and he had a great time. Most of the time, there is a degree of flexibility in hours and you don't need to spend 10 hrs a week in the lab.</p>
<p>There are a ton of research opportunities at Duke, and a lot of places to look. Definitely check out the Undergrad Research site posted above, and the Department websites of whatever field you want to do research in. There are great summer programs for underclassmen, too, like the Howard Hughes Research Fellowship, which is specifically for rising sophomores.</p>