Should I just stop working with my professor?

College Life
1

I have been doing “research” with a professor since my 2nd semester. It’s about alloy solution chemistry and manipulation of binary metal composition to maximize the durability and corrosion-resistance. Yes, I am more into medicine, but this sounded interesting at first. Now here is a problem.

About 2 years have passed since I joined his research group, and we have accomplished barely anything. In fact, I am deeply regretting it because I realized there are other faculty memebrs who are working on cancer cells and bacteria in Chemical engineering faculty. All I did was to solve a few math problems and do literary researches, and no further. It was like he expected ME, a mere undergrad student to lead the research. I understand the importance of independent studying, but a professor asking a student ‘what are we going to today?’ is a different issue. We haven’t done any actual experiment.

My professor is really lazy too; I had him in one of my upper chem. E class last fall , and he was late for exams twice. He also gave us our final test result on FEBRUARY, or to be more specific, THREE MONTHS after the grade due. Yes, he has a terrible work ethic. A lot of students in my class complained that he is a good but very slow-paced person.

Lastly, I have contacted several professors who authored the research articles I read for this research. Turns out that they haven’t done much work in this research topic due to inefficiency issues. So, it’s like a dead topic. I have forwarded their emails to my professor, but he didn’t suggest anything else.

I no longer see point of being in his research group, but I don’t want to be seen rude or anything. Fortunately, I have found another professor who’s working in nanotechnology and biotechnology, which sound much more interesting. Do you think I should leave the 1st professor’s group?

2

If you truly feel like you need to go I would just respectfully quit and offer any last minute work you can finish up on to make the transition smooth. However I personally wouldn’t quit until I know I have another position secured. Last thing you want is to quit one job, not get another, and then also lose the job you had before. I would also state how you greatly appreciate the professor for all they have taught you and for the experience of being able to work in a lab, but you feel like you have to pursue a different research because it coordinates more with what you want to work on in the future

3

It sounds like you are not enjoying it and you are not getting anything out of it, so it is perfectly acceptable to leave and say you have accepted a different opportunity. Likely they will understand and it isn’t the first time it has happened to them. Just thank him for his time, perhaps with a nice handwritten letter or something and move on to new opportunities. Keep good relations if possible in case you ever need a recommendation or something, but if it were me, I would go for the new opportunity.

4

If you have that other research opportunity, go ahead and (very respectfully) quit. No point in wasting your energy.