<p>Something to consider especially for those upcoming first years interested in pursuing research (yes first years can perform research and there are plenty of opportunities since this is a research campus):</p>
<p>First of all, for those incoming freshmen who haven't had a chance to look at the Daily Bruin, UCLA's undergraduate newspaper, there have been a few articles on undergraduate research:</p>
<p>The first is a general article, and I have my skepticisms of the "research" of the featured student (this tends to be the type of "research" undergraduates are advised to avoid). The second is an editorial about why positions such as the one mentioned in the first article are the types given to undergraduates.</p>
<p>Now for how you can start looking for research positions</p>
<p>1.) <a href="http://college.ucla.edu/urc-care/srppositions.htm%5B/url%5D">http://college.ucla.edu/urc-care/srppositions.htm</a></p>
<p>UCLA SRP (student research program) website. Updated during early weeks of each quarter and should be your homepage for the early parts of the quarter if you plan on pursuing research through this avenue. I have my skepticisms of this, and this is a great place to start but should not be the only place.</p>
<p>2.) <a href="http://www.biomedresearchminor.ucla.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.biomedresearchminor.ucla.edu/</a></p>
<p>Requires application. One of the newest minors at UCLA. They are specifically targeting early undergraduates who are interested in research and requires at least a 4 quarter commitment to the lab you're placed in through this program based on your personal interest, which in terms of research is a very short period of time, but still guarantees to the PI that the time they invest in training an undergraduate is not wasted on students who will just flake on them which is why some SRP positions are just for busy work, usually literature searches. </p>
<p>3.) <a href="http://www.uclaaccess.ucla.edu/UCLAACCESS/web/Faculty.aspx%5B/url%5D">http://www.uclaaccess.ucla.edu/UCLAACCESS/web/Faculty.aspx</a></p>
<p>A website infinitely times better than the SRP site. This of course requires you to do a little research of your own instead of being spoonfed the information like they do on the SRP websites. You have to look up the researchers yourself and be persistent when asking the PI for a position. That means actually reading some of their prior publications to show that you actually DO have an interest in what they are doing. Also, talking to the PI in person in their office will be much more effective than emailing them, which they can and most of the time just delete. Usually they'll ask you to sign up for a course so you are held to some accountability, but why would you refuse anyways since this is a label on your transcript that shows that you have performed research.</p>
<p>4.) Signing up for undergraduate courses that introduce you to research and specifically target first year students like </p>
<p>LS10H (Research Training in Genes, Genetics and Genomics)- requires application
<a href="http://www.lscore.ucla.edu/research/info.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.lscore.ucla.edu/research/info.html</a></p>
<p>or HC70A (Genetic Engineering in Medicine, Agriculture and Law)
<a href="http://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Goldberg/HHMI_Program/hc70a.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Goldberg/HHMI_Program/hc70a.html</a></p>
<p>5.) <a href="http://www.research.ucla.edu/faculty/%5B/url%5D">http://www.research.ucla.edu/faculty/</a></p>
<p>A wider search than in (3), but you're probably going to get a more positive feedback by limiting your search to the people in (3) if you were considering using this </p>
<p>6.) Just asking the professors of the course you're interested in if they have positions in their lab, although this will probably have a lower success rate than the other options.</p>
<p>7.) Research at nearby locations. Can take the public buses to these places if you can't get parking or don't want to bring your car. Places like Cedar-Sinai:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/7032.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/7032.html</a></p>
<p>If you really want to do research, find something you're passionate about and look into the topic and be persistent in your research search. </p>
<p>Anyone else want to throw in their $0.02?</p>