<p>Here’s the advice I was given before entering freshman year re: getting involved in research:</p>
<p>(1) As you can probably guess, you have to seek out the professors. They aren’t going to come after you. The reality is that profs are much more interested in grad students, period. Grad students are there to do research; undergrads, not so much.</p>
<p>(2) You have to be very flexible with your options. It’s much more often the case that an upperclassman will be more qualified than you, for obvious reasons. However, if you turn up and say you’d be happy to work on a project and show that you’re competent (and can get tasks done), you can quickly insinuate yourself in the middle of a research group.</p>
<p>(3) Don’t forget about grad students. Faculty often have to juggle many grad students, as well as some undergrads, their own research, other duties, etc. So if you offer to help out a grad student specifically, you can work with him/her until you can have more “direct” access to the prof.</p>
<p>So email professors, grad students, or even other undergrads involved in a research group. Show that you are competent and ask to attend meetings; learn from your environment and then try to insinuate yourself on the actual research. It’s very possible that the work you first do will be more like grunt work; but that can quickly transform into hands-on research.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, though, that if you don’t get involved in research freshman year, that’s completely okay. I know I was intent on doing research freshman year, but wasn’t able to until spring quarter (which is early, in comparison to most), mainly because freshman year is tough, and adjusting to college life is tough too. Don’t force it, and it’ll probably work out the way you want it to. It did for me, at least, and now I’ve been involved in a great research group for the past year and a half (with a conference presentation and two more coming up).</p>
<p>Good luck. :)</p>