<p>Probably only if they ask, it's hard to know what would be relevant. Exceptions would include previous research experience or advanced courses (upper college level - something that they wouldn't expect...) Try to keep the letter relatively brief.</p>
<p>Ah ok - so mentioning calculus would be fine if I were contacting a physics researcher since most don't expect calculus from a high school sophomore.</p>
<p>im a junior in so. ca</p>
<p>i also want to do a research under a local university professor's mentorship</p>
<p>but i dont know how i should contact one..</p>
<p>should i look at university sites and look for the professor's email address and </p>
<p>ask them??</p>
<p>if so, is it also possible to do research during schoo year and summer...</p>
<p>cuz im planning to go to a summer program and i want to start reserch</p>
<p>with a professor early as possible</p>
<p>I noticed you live in California. The only "local" programs I know of are the following two programs:</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara
UCSB Summer Sessions Pre-College Programs/ Research Mentorship Program
<a href="http://www.summer.ucsb.edu/precollegeprograms/index.html#%5B/url%5D">http://www.summer.ucsb.edu/precollegeprograms/index.html#</a></p>
<p>UC Davis Young Scholars Program
<a href="http://ysp.ucdavis.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://ysp.ucdavis.edu/</a></p>
<p>thanks for your reply tahoe but im not actually looking for summer programs...
im finding a way to contact a local university professor so i can work on a project with him/her. the summer program is a different thing. i know that i should email a professor or do something like that but how do i find out a professor's email address? and also how would i figure out what kind of project that professor is working on?</p>
<p>can anyone help me?</p>
<p>read some papers that you find interesting, contact the professor, say "I liked ____ and ____ about ur paper, and I would be interested in persuing _____ project in your lab. Would you be willing to mentor me? Bla bla, general format, jenskate's is better</p>
<p>How far in advance should I e-mail profs? Right ow I'm still waiting for summer program notifications and am thinking about delaying until May - when I'll have the final word about whether I'm rejected or not. Or should I e-mail earlier? Profs might not have everything scheduled over the summer by now.</p>
<p>Hi Cjsathos...
I haven't been to this board in a while... I was actually replying to the OP, Tigeruppercut regarding summer programs. The rest of the posters gave you very sound advice as to finding a research mentor during the school year. I don't know where you live, but using LA as an example, you can peruse UCLA and USC's webpages, both medical school and undergraduate schools. I don't know your particular area of research, or your experience, but you should read what the professors actively researching, and search out some of their published journals to read about their research directly. You asked how to find out what the professors are doing. Each website is different, but using UCLA as an example, it took me 1 minute, using the word "biology" on their research page to find all of these researchers. Just click on their name and you will see their research topics. <a href="http://cf.research.ucla.edu/cfdocs/faculty/rschresults.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://cf.research.ucla.edu/cfdocs/faculty/rschresults.cfm</a>. If you want to get involved in research, the first step is researching all of the possible opportunities out there. It will take a lot of time, and you will face a lot of closed doors, but with perserverence, you might find a mentor who is willing to work with a high school student. Also, I would contact the "lesser known" universities and comb through their biological sciences, chemistry, etc websites to see what current projects individual professors are working on. Do you just want to research to pad your resume or do you have something in mind that you would like to explore? Your passion should come accross when you contact the professors..</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>Message for those rejected by all summer progs: Don't lose hope yet! Even to RSI. Professors can be surprisingly helpful!</p>
<hr>
<p>If you actually achieve results with a single prof, it may even look better than a summer program because doing research with a single prof requires much more independence and initiative than doing research at a summer program. Summer programs are more fun and have more of a safety net than a single prof</p>
<p>glad i found this thread-not having much luck with mine..</p>
<p>what if you have no research experience at all..does that cripple your chance with the mentor?</p>
<p>cause i'd like to email some professors but i dono if they want to work with me...i'm only a sophomore and i'm taking chemistry 10 H (taking the AP next year)</p>
<p>plus...i have no idea what i like...preferrably something in the chemistry field. but other than that, i have no idea where to go. </p>
<p>help?</p>
<p>mangosmmm, it kinda depends on the professor himself but I had no previous research experience but I was able to find a good mentor, as explained in the post above. However, I had the advantage of going to college early so I wouldn't have to face liability issues. I don't think I'll be paid though so I don't think it'll be considered employment.</p>
<p>Show what skills you have! Programming is often a very valuable skill in these days. ALso, indicate that you know a bit about the field you're interested in but it's ok to say that you could take anything.</p>
<p>
[quote]
mangosmmm, it kinda depends on the professor himself but I had no previous research experience but I was able to find a good mentor, as explained in the post above. However, I had the advantage of going to college early so I wouldn't have to face liability issues. I don't think I'll be paid though so I don't think it'll be considered employment.</p>
<p>Show what skills you have! Programming is often a very valuable skill in these days. ALso, indicate that you know a bit about the field you're interested in but it's ok to say that you could take anything.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In my case, my programming skills are not that great..am taking AP physics this fall... Havent taken calculus.. Gonna be doing Precalc over the summer ( and calculus honors this fall )_... What i'm not sure about is how will I be able to contribute to a professor's project? My limited knowledge will not enable me to help him in a major way... What help can I expect to give to the professor? My interest is in the field of physics and I plan to major in Mechanical Engineering....</p>
<p>What did the mentor do in your case? Did he give you simple stuff such as finding data on the internet and giving it to him,etc? </p>
<p>thanks</p>