<p>How do employers view undergraduate research? I have the chance to participate in some research in the next upcoming years along with one or two internships. Would future employers like this on my r</p>
<p>Come on! Research and internships play a big role when you apply for a job. Don’t leave any such opportunity.</p>
<p>Particularly, a Chemical Engineering graduate with a good GPA and such practical skills will receive relatively big checks.</p>
<p>I realized I made it a bit unclear in my first post. Would adding research to my r</p>
<p>Now, any experiential learning looks very good on the resume. Be it a research or internship, what you did there counts. A long-term research opportunity, I think, is the best thing you can put on your resume. A short-term research (typically the same time length as an internship) would not be any greater than an internship unless the amount of meaningful work you put into your research is greater than that in an internship. As I said earlier, what you DO matters.</p>
<p>Research in a field other than engineering can help you in some situations. For example, an EE or MechE major can add a Physics research without any doubt. A ChemE major can add Physics or Chem research if it is somewhat closely related to your major. And ofcourse a BME major can add Chem or Bio research to their resume.</p>
<p>Engineering, sciences and applied sciences are pretty closely related to each other. So, a research or internship in a related science/applied science area can actually work as a plus for engineering majors. It adds an interdisciplinary approach to your resume (and obviously, to your practical skills).</p>
<p>Finally, do not fear to join a research team. As you said, we need to start somewhere to continue doing that. It may appear somewhat tough at the beginning but it doesn’t take much time to rise up if you work passionately and diligently. Do a little background study before joining a particular research. After you join, the professor/head of the research will definitely direct you to relevant background materials. A little knowledge beforehand can make your life easy and help you in appearing impressive to the your project head.</p>
<p>Judging from my year of undergrad research in CS in the early 80’s vs the Hello World stuff our interns do today I’d say go for research… My undergrad research landed me a very well paid research assistantship + research funding from a space related organization in Houston 
to do my graduate research… </p>
<p>If you can get a good internship that involves meaningful work, go for it, otherwise… Esp. if you’re interested in Academia or R&D for future work. I took my choice of industry R&D upon graduation and have not regretted it.</p>