<p>I was wondering how so many people get to be personal interns to prof.s at big-name institutions, or even small, local colleges. How do you guys find these opportunities? I've been trying for over a year to get one (live around Chicago area), cause I'd like to participate in Siemens next year. Any hints would be appreciated greatly. Thnx.</p>
<p>S just arranged something, and here's how he did it. He asked himself what kind of problems really interested him that were being researched at nearby universities. Then he went online and found peer-reviewed journals that publish for free to the public (you can also go to the university library and read peer-reviewed journals for free). He selected and read 15-20 articles on subjects that sounded interesting. I suggest you focus on "survey articles" as these are articles that breifly review the content, purpose and results of many other articles in a single field. Survey articles give you an overview of what is going on, and can teach you the language of the research area.</p>
<p>S read the articles, and made half a page of notes (definitions, problems, what was the best part, etc) on each one. This effort gave him detailed information on the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>the problems that interested him the most</li>
<li>the universities that were active in the areas he was interested in</li>
<li>the names of the professors who were doing the work</li>
</ol>
<p>Then he began researching 5-6 professors who were nearby, looking at what they were working on, what they were writing about, and what research resources they had. He eventually contacted 6 of them (5 by email, one by telephone). He has a very interesting project for the summer which may continue into next year.</p>
<p>It can also be good to understand if your local university will allow a non-enrolled student to research on campus. Some public unis have rules against this. Privates may be more open to the idea, or you may need to enroll for a class to get the opportunity to work in a professor's lab. Usually liability is the issue in this case, and enrolling for something solves it.</p>
<p>There are also many high school summer research programs that you can apply to.</p>
<p>I participated in Dept. of Defense SEAP (<a href="http://www.gwseap.net/seap.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.gwseap.net/seap.asp</a>) and Baylor HSSSRP (<a href="http://www.baylor.edu/summerscience/)%5B/url%5D">http://www.baylor.edu/summerscience/)</a>. NASA SHARP (<a href="http://www.mtsibase.com/sharp/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mtsibase.com/sharp/</a>) and MIT's RSI (<a href="http://www.cee.org/rsi/index.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.cee.org/rsi/index.shtml</a>) are also good programs that I've heard of.</p>
<p>All of these programs are free or paid, which is awesome.</p>
<p>Right, Tiger, cause anyone can get into RSI ;) Or SHARP, come to think of it.</p>
<p>Heh...yeah, it's probably harder to get into RSI than it is to get into Caltech ^^;</p>
<p>Yeah. Definitely got rejected from RSI. They told me, "there are many more qualified applicants we could accept." Isn't SHARP for underrep. minorities only? I think I'm too late anyway, though.</p>
<p>AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGG!!!! Dang it! I should've known about that SEAP program for military research. It looks really good. The stupid deadlines have passed, and now I'm screwed. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>It's harder to get into RSI than Caltech. RSI = 5% with extremely competitive applicant pool, Caltech = 17% NASA SHARP has very arbitrary admissions much like Ivies - I've seen RSI acceptees turned down by SHARP. FUrthermor,e only 90% of those with SHARP graduate from college - what about the other 10%?</p>
<hr>
<p>reasonabledad, your advice on research was the best I've ever seen on collegeconfidential!</p>
<p>I contacted some prof.s at UChicago. Hope they respond... Thanks for the advice, though, reasonabledad. What was your son's field?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Isn't SHARP for underrep. minorities only? I think I'm too late anyway, though.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>yes and no...they do advertise it as for underreps, but i think thats due to some federal diversity regulations and such (at least, thats what my mentor was explaining). doesn't make it impossible if you're not...i wouldn't consider asians and caucasians to be underrepresented at nasa, but hey, there were quite a few (myself included). deadline was valentine's day though, so...too late :(.</p>
<p>Dangit, I should've asked earlier :(. My counselor was totally clueless on these things. How'd you guys find out?</p>
<p>the sharp deadline? last year, one of my friends showed me the website about a week before the deadline...this year i got an email from the sharp coordinator.</p>
<p>Since just found out about this program, and might be interested next year, are most nasa sharp sophmores or juniors?</p>
<p>two or three sophomores and seniors, the rest were juniors:)</p>
<p>Thank you, Simfish and Aisiaknight! Son's field is AI/robotics. Hope you are successful!</p>
<p>Hey - topping an old thread but it may be useful for those rejected from all summer programs still looking for something over the summer.</p>
<p>I wrote an e-mail to 4 professors and all of them replied to it. I referred to this link (<a href="http://www.astro.washington.edu/undergrad/projects.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.astro.washington.edu/undergrad/projects.html</a>) though, so the professors were probably more willing than others to take research projects from students. Here was my message: (not perfect haha but still worked)</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I just looked up the undergraduate research opportunities page and
became interested in your research project. I am currently a high
school sophomore although I am going to the University of Washington
as an undergraduate next year. I have knowledge in single-variable
calculus and will study calculus and physics next year. Furthermore, I
have experience in C/C++ programming. I have an especial interest in
astronomy and am strongly considering majoring in the field. Are my
skills sufficient enough to work on your research project? While I
will be attending a summer math program over July, I will be available
over some of August and over the course of the next school year. I
would love to have a research project sometime over the next year!</p>
<p>Thanks!
- Alex C</p>
<hr>
<p>One said he could take no more space, another told me to come later, and the last two e-mails were very encouraging. The last e-mail invited me to come and I did come yesterday. He gave me some of his research papers and told me to come back on August to finally accept the research project. Additionally, he invited me to antoher prof, where we will be working on a research project over the summer.</p>
<p>For astronomy projects, it seems like all of the introductory projects require a lot of programming. hehe.</p>
<p>So the former research project focuses on barred spiral galaxies and in the angular momentum of the galaxy as compared to the size of its bulge while the latter research project focuses on the Milky Way halo structure traced by RR Lyrae stars. I think I said RR Lyrae at the right time, favorably impressing the professor.</p>
<p>Congratulations! I don't doubt that you will have a great time!</p>
<p>Thanks. :)</p>