<p>There's a biochem professor at my school who's doing research that's very close to my interests. This is moderately rare since I go to a small liberal arts school. I'd love to do research with him and I probably will if he'll let me, but he only got his PhD (from Harvard) in 2005 and only got hired at my school this year. If I do end up researching with him, would he be a good source for letters of recommendation? Especially if I end up applying to Harvard? His research is really cool, but I wonder if his relative lack of experience would count against me.</p>
<p>A glowing letter from a younger professor is better than a mediocre letter from a famous professor. Don't act like great recommenders are in abundance, you have to get them whenever you can.</p>
<p>You might wanna check out to see if he graduated in 2005 or finished a post doc in 2005. It makes a difference. Check his publication record and compare that to some of the older professors in the department. Does he only have 5 papers, does he have 15? </p>
<p>I don't think you should be scared away from doing research with this person because he is young. Rather that is actually a great spot for an undergrad to be in because it is likely that he won't already have a post doc runnign the day to day operations of his lab and you might stand to have some personal interaction with him.</p>
<p>if he got his PhD at harvard in the lab of someone who you are interested in working for, then the letter will help. I would look at his publication record and see if he has a couple big papers that most people in the field would know about (ie a CNS journal). Also, what is your other option? It is better to do research in a field that is interesting to you, because that way you have stuff that you like to talk about during interviews. You also need 3 letters, so it's not a problem if one of them is less well known. A fantastic letter from an unknown professor is never going to hurt you, it just won't help you as much as a fantastic letter from a famous professor or a professor who has connections to a particular school.</p>
<p>Also you might find yourself getting along with him better because he's closer to your age than his senior counterparts and he'll provide better insights on graduate school in general. I'm seeking advice now from a junior faculty member and somehow I feel that I'm much more comfortable with his perspective and guidance than "just got my PhD" and senior professors because he's in the middle. He's out long enough to get a taste of academia from a faculty member's perspective but not too long that his memories are stale. So I would just talk to this cool guy and he can give you really, really good insights on where to apply. Don't underestimate the power of connections- he may have more than just the people at Harvard.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure he finished the PhD in 2005, at least that's what his bio implies. He's got around 10 publications, but none of them are in major journals. But like I said, I go to a small liberal arts college so I don't think any of my professors are Big Shots in their field. They're all teachers who research rather than researchers who teach. It is kind of nice not to have to compete with PhD students and postdocs for lab time, though.</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for the replies. I think I'll keep him in mind since his research really is interesting.</p>