Re: OT: I wanna be a scientist

On 13 Aug 2005 18:58:32 -0700, "Frank Sullivan"
<gimbal.locked@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Thanks for your advice, all of you. Concerning my third question about
>approaching a faculty member about lab work, is that something that is
>done by virtually everyone? Or is that something that most do not do,
>in which case doing so might give me an advantage over other students?
>I plan to do it either way but I'm just curious.

There are different types and categories of lab worker. There are
straight technicians who work in labs and are paid by the hour. The
faculty member has no obligation or responsibility to educate or
mentor that person and is only interested in getting the most and best
possible work done. If you want to work as a technician, you have to
simply ask and be able to demonstrate technical competence in the
appropriate lab techniques, an ability to learn quickly and to work
independently, and a sense of diligence and responsibility. Some
faculty treat their technicians well and do, indeed, help to mentor
them. Others simply assign menial tasks and leave them in isolation.

If you are a graduate student and want to do your graduate research in
a faculty members lab, then that faculty is taking you on as a major
responsibility. That is the situation John Harshman described in a
previous post. It is serious stuff.

But from your previous posts, you are not yet even an undergraduate
student. You will be approaching a faculty member as a beginning
student. You will be among only a tiny handful of students who do
that. Of all the undergraduates that pass through a faculty members
courses, most are totally silent and respond only when directly asked
a question. Most of the rest ask questions on the order of "will that
be on the final?". Only a tiny minority express any interest in the
subject matter beyond the required reading and assignments. Some of
those asking to work in labs are clearly only using it as an edge to
help their chances of getting into med school. So if you approach
the faculty simply as a student sincerely interested in going into
that subject matter as a career, seeking help and guidance, and
incidentally asking if there are any openings for any sort of work in
the research lab, you will be in a very small minority. If, in
addition, you demonstrate some smarts, some sense of dedication and
responsibility, and some maturity in your demeanor, then you will be
well placed to succeed.

You are at no disadvantage at all as an older student returning to
your education. In fact, you are much better motivated than the
typical straight-out-of-high-school student, much more mature, with a
far better sense of self and goals and what it takes to succeed.

But you really have a lot of preparation to do first. Faculty at
community colleges ordinarily have a very heavy teaching load and no
research facilities or opportunities. At the community college, you
will simply be taking courses, though you should talk to your
instructors about all of this. Many will be people with master's
degrees or even PhD's who could not get university positions nearby
and for some personal reasons are not mobile enough to travel widely
to a distant academic job. You really do have to establish some
credentials as a serious science student capable of performing well in
math and chemistry before you can approach a faculty member at a
research institution to work in the lab.


.

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