Hi everyone! I hope your October is going well. In today’s blog, I’m going to talk about my experiences with STEM research at Amherst. Please reach out to me at sgoldsmith24@amherst.edu with any questions.
I am a biology and French major, and I wanted to do research at Amherst because I know that I want to do biological research for my career. Research isn’t necessary to be a STEM major at Amherst, and it isn’t a prerequisite to pursue any type of career. One reason I like being in STEM at Amherst is because of the new Science Center. The building is light and open, and the proximity of people doing research in the same broad field facilitates collaboration between labs.
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
I began my research at Amherst with the SURF program for the summer of 2021. SURF is specifically designed for undergraduate students (particularly rising sophomores and juniors) to have the opportunity to experience research in a professional setting for the first time. Most colleges and universities have programs like SURF, and several are even open to students from other schools – these are called Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs), and are typically funded by the NSF.
I applied for SURF in February 2021, and received my offer in April. I got to work in the Goutte lab for eight weeks, and learned a lot about doing research with other people and meeting research goals (in addition to actual research techniques). The Goutte lab uses a model organism called C. elegans (a microscopic worm) to study a protein complex that facilitates cell signaling in multicellular organisms. I can’t speak for every lab, but in the Goutte lab we had weekly lab meetings during which we dissected scientific articles that the lab members had been assigned to read, and we presented our individual research thus far to each other. We also had one-on-one meetings with Professor Goutte on Fridays to take stock of what had been accomplished that week and to plan out next steps. At the end of SURF, I got to make a poster to present my research during a poster session with other biology SURF students. Usually there is one large poster session for all of the SURF students, but that wasn’t possible this year due to the p*nd*m*c (I don’t like to use the word anymore).
Lunch with the Goutte Lab (June 2021)
Presenting my poster at the poster session (September 2021)
Research during the school year
Outside of SURF, it is very easy to get a STEM research position with a professor. To get a position, students approach the professor whose work they are interested in and speak to them about their research and joining their lab. I recommend doing some research before speaking to the professor by reading articles they have published or articles pertaining to their field, because doing so demonstrates genuine interest in what they are doing. Professors love to talk to students about their work, and like welcoming students into their lab to teach them how to conduct scientific research. One reason I chose Amherst is that it is an entirely undergraduate institution, which means there aren’t any graduate students to work in labs and make it difficult for undergraduates to get lab positions.
I’ve found that it is best to approach professors about joining their lab either at the end of a semester (so you can start at the beginning of the next semester) or at the very beginning of the semester, before their lab is full.
While it can be intimidating to approach a professor, they have all been very open and kind. They were once in our shoes, and only want to help students discover what they love to do and succeed in pursuing that field.