The Most Important EC's...?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>I completely agree that most HS students don't have "access to high-tech lab equipment". I remember wanting to use an fMRI machine in my research on Slow-Rotation Spinning on Memory and Learning--my professor told me there's no way UC Davis (or any other equipped facility) would let a high school student use any of their expensive equipment. Even if they did, the cost to use such equipment is highly prohibitive (it would cost nearly $1000 to pay for the supplies!).</p>

<p>...I had to resort to more basic and less expensive methods to pursue the research--lots more experimentation!</p>

<p>While we're discussing high-tech equipment, does MIT's Electrical Engineering dept/lab have its own fabrication system (integrated circuits, etc.)?</p>

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<p>Apparently so: <a href="http://mtlweb.mit.edu/services/fabrication/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mtlweb.mit.edu/services/fabrication/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://mtlweb.mit.edu/about/index.html%5DMTL%5B/url"&gt;http://mtlweb.mit.edu/about/index.html]MTL[/url&lt;/a&gt;], the Microsystems Technology Lab, appears to be an offshoot of the EECS dept. and now serves the entire Institute.</p>

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<p>Wow mootmom, you're fast! Thanks!</p>

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<p>this certainly is not a representative sample, but just looking at the small group of my son's local friends - he and 1 other are at MIT now. Three more are applying this year, of which I expect at least 2 to get in. Of those 5 kids, 3 have research experience. 2 did RSI, and another one worked with a local univ. prof.</p>

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<p>heh thx guys, i did antileukemic research sophomore year and SSP last year, so in terms of summer research i think im set. and about the olympiads and science fairs, you guys seem to assure me that theyre not a dominant majority or anything like that.</p>

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<p>I have a question. What is research?</p>

<p>Is it volunteering extensively at a lab just doing random easy jobs and helping your mentor? Is it exploring your own ideas with a mentor? I'm confused because in school, we do "research papers" all the time, we basically just google a lot and reguritate all that information in a neat format with some of our own analysis, but I don't think that's what you are referring to...</p>

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<p>research = usually working in a lab (at a university, most of the time), under a mentor. it's usually you assisting some researcher or grad student with their research, and getting a hands-on type experience, or pursuing original research for sci fair and things like that</p>

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<p>For the past couple of years (started in 8th grade), I have been entering science fairs with my own research projects which I have done in my home, and won awards for. Just this year (my soph) i have contacted some professors, etc, to get some help/supplies from, but I have still been pursuing my research in my home. I hope to go to RSI right before I'm a senior. I don't think it matters whether you've done it in your home or at some institute, as long as you actually are interested and like what you're doing.</p>

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<p>are you serious? then even I have "research" experience... I assisted a post doc in her project one summer for a good chunk of hours, but I called it "volunteering" lol</p>

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<p>are you replying to my post???just wondering. If you are, I guess my research is different from yours since I didn't help out anyone...but if you weren't responding to me...disregard this message</p>

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<p>Or you can do what I did:</p>

<p>1) Locate the chair of a department at a nearby university
2) Find out his hobbies (poker in my case)
3) Strategical social engineering until you and he are playing poker at the same table
4) Play the game, all the while maintaining conversation. Mention that you're looking to get into research
5) Lose horribly (not on purpose)
6) Get offered a research internship!</p>

<p>He was actually quite impressed with how I managed to get to him. :P. One week later I'm in the Systems Lab. Admittedly, I haven't been here for long, and I'll probably have to leave when I start working this year, but I've gained a great friend/mentor and some invaluable experience. Not to mention a guarenteed spot if all other options drop through.</p>

<p>Although I've watched more footage of feet than any human should ever have to watch. I don't look people in the face anymore, I look down and look at their shoes first.</p>

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<p>And to reply to cortiagiana's very good question, I have to say that research is contributive discovery.</p>

<p>But you have to realize, research by nature is a collaborative thing that is based off the works of many people. No one should ever reinvent the wheel... like I implied in my other post, I spent several, several weeks looking at footage of gaits from biomedical institutions and studying the mathematics of rigid-body bipedal movement, none of which was my own work. But my internship is in biomechanics/mechanical engineering/computer science/electrical engineering (hooray for integrated science!), so using that information, my first job was to design and build feet for a semi-passive walker... easier said than done. In the end, it was my design (well, our, I was working with one other person), and it worked. </p>

<p>So was what I did research? I think so. Yes, we used a lot of existing material, but what we created was our own, and was more than just putting other peoples' work together, it was figuring out a way to make it work, successfully.</p>

<p>Our next few projects were things like figuring out a way to keep actuators from overheating and producing incorrect torque outputs, for which I used a doctorate student's research (again, rigid-body bipedal motion and variable structure control systems), and applied my knowledge of CS and (limited) EE. I also got to work with a pneumatic haptic interface for a robotic arm, that was tight.</p>

<p>I think I have this to say about the benefits of lab research over individual research:
- You learn how collaborative research works in a lab environment. Yes, you can have teams or groups in private resarch, but in a lab your work depends on the work of the person sitting next to you, whose work depends on the person working away at the other side of the workshop (could I use the word work more times in one sentence?). It's that bond you form walking in every day, and knowing you're a small part of something that will one day be great.
- You make so many new friends! My friends at the lab include: </p>

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<p>No, I didn't get to work on many of my own ideas, but my ideas can wait for when I have the resources to work with them adequately (say, after I get into college, maybe grad school). Right now, the important thing is knowing how to do research, and how the system works. True, you can learn how to go about research doing it individually, but you get so much less out of it in my opinion (I may be biased, as I have conducted personal research that ended in the destruction of about $2200 worth of personal machinery :P).</p>

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<p>Ouch $2200 worth of personal machinery!</p>

<p>I couldn't agree with you more. Research is about collaboration. It doesn't make sense to reinvent the wheel. In order to advance civilization, we must work together synergistically. One of the frustrating things I noticed when researching prominent professors/departments in alternative energy was that everyone seemed to be doing their own research and own work. At least from the surface, the professors seemed to be competing to find a solution fastest. Instead of collaborating, sharing results, and working together, they were competing for the Nobel Prize!</p>

<p>You're advice on getting a research internship was...interesting. Did you really go throgh all that trouble (social engineering and poker playing) to get a research internship? I just wrote an email asking for information :p. Unfortunately, since the universities I wrote to were very far away, they could only provide me with information and direction--no cool internships! As for the supplies...well, I was left to hardware stores, tech supplies stores, etc. (expensive!). </p>

<p>I guess I really missed out on the opportunity to interact and research, in person, with others. From your description, it sounds like you had a lot of fun. Well, at university (hopefully MIT!) there should research opportunities.</p>

<p>Olo, if you don't mind my asking, what did you write your essays about? The reason I ask, I'm interested in the same major and seem to have simillar activities/ECs.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I lost a computer system and several monitors (I was working on some... adaptations... to video).</p>

<p>It wasn't really "all that trouble." I just asked around until I figured out who he played poker with, joked around, and asked if I could come to the game. It took longer than sending an e-mail, yes, but all of it only took a week. Your financial point is probably the most important: no one should have to spend excessive amounts of their own money on research. As for there being no cool internships, the trick is to make them want to create an internship for you. ;). The chair of the department just wrote the NSF a proposal for a grant that will allow him to take on high school students as research interns for pay! I became the guinea pig. :).</p>

<p>You're right in that it was fun. Even obtaining the internship was fun! I think if nothing else, students should do lab research for the enjoyment of it. Plus, when you have other people depending on your work, it gives you more motivation not to say "screw it!" after you don't get good results.</p>

<ul>
<li>My first short essay was about shennanigans.</li>
<li>My second short essay pretty much amounted to, "I have no idea what I really want to do, but these things all interest me!"</li>
<li>My long essay was about, well, me, and what lead to me being who I am. (~500 words)</li>
<li>My first optional essay was about the aforementioned feet. It's not the most glamorous project I've worked on, but the humbling nature of it really got to me. (~400 words)</li>
<li>My second optional was pretty much everything I had to say that I couldn't say in the other essays. (very short)</li>
</ul>

<p>EDIT: For clarification, it's a nonpay internship.</p>

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<p>oh sorry, I wasn't replying to you coolphreak; I was replying to salank.</p>

<p>Thanks much Olo for that explanation--yeah, it makes sense. So my "research" experience is back to its old designation of "volunteering". lol</p>

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<p>Call me Timur, everyone does. :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the informative responses, Timur :-).</p>

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<p>No research by our son--but intense and passionate involvement in his own particular ECs.</p>

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<p>Not a problem!</p>

<p>ADad: And that's perfectly alright. Most people don't have research experience, and it's only one of many ways to show passion.</p>

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<p>Olo: Right. I should have been clearer--our son is now a freshman at MIT. He is another example of someone admitted without research experience, but with intense and passionate involvement in ECs.</p>