Coming into college, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to engage in research as an undergraduate. I looked at research as something for grad students or professors, with large, scary labs, or information too complicated for my young mind to handle. I couldn’t have been more wrong. So far at Rice, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to do two completely different types of research, and I’ve learned so much from them. Moral of the story: if you’re thinking of doing research, DO IT.

Research is a great way to meet other people at your university. I’ve gotten closer to professors on campus, as well as grad students in different fields. It’s a huge benefit to know people beyond your residential hall at college. I’ve learned so much from the people I have worked with and currently work with, and I feel comfortable enough to ask them questions about school and their path in life. They are great resources beyond pure research questions.

Doing research helps you learn about what’s going on in the world and in your community. Research involves answering a question that hasn’t yet been solved, or looking for solutions for how to increase the benefit of something. Research is practical and useful. It’s contributing to daily life, and is a small part (sometimes even a really big part) of making the world a better place. It also teaches you basic skills that you may use later in life, like certain computer programs or lab skills, depending on what type of research you’re doing.

You can learn a lot about yourself and what you’re interested by focusing your studies on a particular subject. Getting into research means delving into a specific subject. In doing this, you are spending lots of time doing specific procedures related to specific information. Although this seems obvious, sometimes it takes a while for people to be very focused on one aspect of literature/science to realize that they aren’t interested in that field (or that they ARE interested in that field). Little by little, you will realize what you like and don’t like about research and your topic, and that will teach you about yourself.

Research can seem daunting, but it’s extremely worth looking into. I’ve gotten to work with some really smart, innovative people on interesting, topical problems. Research is impressive on a resume, and it allows a person to learn a lot about what the current problems of the world are, and have a role in fixing them.