new to lab

There is nothing better than getting a punishingly difficult technique to work, or coming up with the next research question after interpreting a result.

An in-depth summer research experience will give you the luxury of time to think about strategies and perhaps test several. It might be so exciting that you’ll have difficulty sleeping some nights even when you’re soooo tired after working in the lab all day.

Being in the lab five days a week for several hours each day will certainly help you meet your research objectives faster than during the semester. However, at some point your project will likely hit a wall. You might need solve a technical error, be stuck trying to optimize a fickle procedure, or need to dig deeper into the scientific literature and reconsider your strategy.

Spending your summer doing research full-time? Expect to gain greater rewards than a regular semester experience.

More time in the lab means more opportunities to take a greater role in planning and conducting experiments, collecting data, and analyzing results.

You might have the option of working on an independent project as the “student PI” with all the responsibilities and rewards that accompany the title.

Additional hours in the lab will also lead to more opportunities to learn, contribute, and become an integral member of the research team.

If you’ve decided to make the most of your summer by participating in a full-time research experience, you’re about to embark on a new, challenging adventure, and it won’t include much time for lounging.



During the summer, you might be in the lab more hours in a single day than you spent in the lab in an entire week during the semester. Working, taking notes, and thinking about research for several hours (and days) in a row can be a difficult adjustment.

For most new researchers, lab work turns out to be more difficult and more complicated than anticipated--even with a solid background of lab classes. It takes time to gain the skills needed to be successful and learn proper technique.

Depending on the academic discipline and type of project you have, washing lab dishes might be part of your research experience.

However, if you’ve been in the lab for eight weeks and your entire research experience thus far has been washing dishes and doing random chores in the lab (such as dragging bags of autoclaved waste to the disposal site) then it’s time to ask the PI for a research project.