A Guide to Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate research is one of the most rewarding experiences students can take on. It can not only give you crucial experience, usually without requiring any qualifications, but it often helps students realize interests related to their major by working on impactful projects. Plus, research typically has the added benefit of gaining course credit towards your degree, or getting paid a student wage. In addition to honing in on a whole host of technical skills, the soft skills students develop throughout research, such as coordinating with a supervisor or presenting a complex idea clearly, will be transferable to any workplace.

Finding That Opportunity

Virginia Tech is considered an R1 institution by Carnegie Classifications, the highest ranking a university can receive from this scale, meaning it has “very high research activity”. This is primarily due to a relatively large number of professors teaching and conducting research, and a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration for increased research capabilities.

But how can students seek out these opportunities with professors effectively? The first step is to think very broadly about your interests. A good strategy for this is to determine what department your major belongs to, or to find a department which interests you if you have not yet declared a major. Typically, departments will have a webpage dedicated to teaching and research faculty, often including an ability to filter faculty by research area in some way. These tools can help you find professors conducting research, and they often have a bio detailing the research and/or lab group they are involved in.

After identifying professors that you would be interested in working with, there will often be an email address on their webpage or CV/Resume. This is where you can introduce your background as a student, talk about something you find fascinating about the professor’s work, and ask if there’s any role you could work on in their research group. These lab groups will always be happy to see students expressing keen interest in their work, which is why this strategy generally works well. That being said, there are many alternate paths for getting into research as an undergraduate student. One of the best things students can do, including those already involved in research, is subscribe to the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) weekly Newsletter at Virginia Tech. The newsletter consolidates several research opportunities, such as undergraduate research events, available research positions at Virginia Tech and other institutions, and fellowship opportunities for students seeking research.

For College of Science students, Virginia Tech hosts a Diversifying Science Undergraduate Research Mixer every semester, which is reported on in the newsletter and is a fantastic way to learn more about different labs across campus while meeting with researchers. The First-Year Fralin Undergraduate Research Fellowship is also advertised in the newsletter and offers a wide variety of projects for students to apply for at the beginning of the year. For students interested in technology or engineering, the Hume Center at Virginia Tech offers numerous opportunities, including cooperative research fellowships with national security companies such as RTX and CACI, academic scholarships to students interested in national security, and a summer research internship in a technical field. There is a research open house event hosted by the Hume Center, where students can learn more about individual research opportunities at Virginia Tech. The Hume Center website also consolidates several partnership research opportunities onto the website, and into Virginia Tech students’ inboxes. Pursuing research with the Hume Center has an important benefit of working in a restricted research environment–which will be a major advantage for any future employment opportunities requiring a security clearance.

Many students will also find success pursuing research at other universities or educational institutions, most commonly at a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Most sites have students spend a summer at their university and give students a stipend, in addition to covering on-campus housing and dining expenses. REU sites typically have a more formal application, and as such end up being more competitive than other opportunities. Virginia Tech has several REU sites which are worth checking out too!

Common Misconceptions about Research

Even though it has been established that research has a relatively low barrier of entry for interested students, sometimes preconceived notions can become a barrier for accessing research. One of the most common reasons you will hear is that pursuing research is only for those who have their sights set on graduate school, especially with research at other universities who want you to consider applying to graduate school there. Research is a highly important facet of many industrial jobs, even if it’s in a slightly different setting than the lab at school. The skills undergraduate researchers have will always be highly sought after by employers, whether it is critical thinking or professionalism, not just academia. Additionally, the idea that research opportunities are strictly for students with a high GPA or who are otherwise high-achieving couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Plenty of research opportunities at Virginia Tech will accept first-year students in their first semester, before they have grades or any completed coursework. Mentorship is a massive part of research, and research groups are more inclined to work with students who demonstrate strong interest and curiosity than a student who doesn’t bring much enthusiasm, but has perfect grades. Some students may also assume that research must be directly related to your major. For example, an economics lab group studying the long-term cost effectivity of building sustainable transportation in Virginia may recruit an Industrial and Systems Engineering major for insights on the supply chain process, an Environmental Engineering major to quantify the reduction in polluted air, and a Computer Science major to run some calculations or simulations and create a reusable code repository.

The truth is that any general engineering major might play an important role in a similar interdisciplinary project, and this could even allow students to pursue research in a separate college or department while gaining relevant skills.