Category: Get Started with Research

finding research, contacting professors, choosing a project, first research experience, research opportunities

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research

From Lab Bench to Laptop: Exploring Computational and Experimental Research

A screenshot of a simulation of thousands of water molecules and a larger organic molecule on top.
A molecular simulation of a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”) molecule at the air-water interface — part of my research experience this past summer.

The image that scientific research conjures is that of a lab coat-clad scientist hunched over cell cultures or mixing unknown chemicals in a fume hood. I bet you wouldn’t believe it if I told you my summer research experience was more like a 9-to-5 desk job — running Excel formulas across five spreadsheets and refilling my coffee mug every two hours. 

Coming into Princeton, I was undecided about my academic and research interests. I had done wet-lab chemistry research in high school and enjoyed it, but I also liked computer science and wasn’t ready to leave it behind either. Thus, early on, I set out to gain both experimental and computational research experience. A first-year seminar on computational molecular modelling led me to continue this work over the summer through a High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) internship. This semester, I am turning to the experimental side, conducting independent work on making porous materials called zeolites for natural gas purification and carbon capture. Working on both theory and experiments has given me a clearer picture of what research looks like from either side, and I hope my experience helps if you’re also drawn to both.

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research Research Life Resources

Close One Door, and Another Will Open

A field ecologist looks through an endless field of seaweed.
Fieldwork in the Intertidal. Photo Credit: Marshall Mumford.

It’s okay to fail. No, really, it is. You may feel that the achievements that brought you here have put you on a pedestal, destined to keep rising higher and higher, but someday that pedestal will break or crumble, and you must figure out how to keep going. 

This is true especially in research. Having been involved in scientific research from the early days of doing science fair, to analyzing my data for my senior thesis, I feel like I have rather good authority to speak on failure. These are my four tips for coping with failure as you embark on your research journey. 

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Get Started with Research Independent Work Research Life

Diary of a Thesis

Part 1: Brainstorming

Medea attempts to cure Aeson, her lover Jason's father. She dramatically points a wand to a cauldron. Above her, the gods Diana, Neptune, and Hecate watch.
Corrado Giaquinto (1703–1765), Medea Rejuvenating Aeson (1760). A scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Medea attempts to “cure” her love Jason’s father of his old age

As I begin to plan for my senior year, the quintessential Princeton trial looms over me: the senior thesis. For such a large and talked-about project, I felt the familiar feeling of “Where do I even start?”

As I embark upon my thesis journey, I’m hoping to take a self-reflective and forward-planning approach. In doing so, I hope to harness a productive and proactive energy that will help me treat this project as a series of small, feasible, and exciting tasks, and to help others who may be struggling.

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research

The Making of a Researcher: Mentor First, Scientist Second

Professor Casey Lew-Williams playing with a toddler visiting the Baby lab.
Professor Casey Lew-Williams at the Princeton Baby Lab. Photo Credit: Princeton Office of Communications.

What does it take to become a researcher?

The Making of a Researcher is a new mini-series exploring the paths scientists take to reach where they are today, highlighting their growth from beginners to experts. 

Through interviews with faculty members in various fields, we’ll explore the necessary steps to becoming a researcher and how Princeton professors play a part in that process.

In this first feature, Professor Casey Lew-Williams, Chair of the Psychology Department and Director of the Princeton Baby Lab, reflects on his journey in developmental psychology and his role as a mentor to aspiring students in the field.

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Get Started with Research Research Life

Encounters with Mentorship

Sunlight narrowly streams in an ornate window of the highest floor of Firestone Library in the afternoon.
Firestone Library in the afternoon

As I was graduating high school, everyone – whether it was friends, teachers, or family – told me I had to find a good mentor. I didn’t really know what this meant in the context of college. I had experienced instructive relationships with coaches and teachers before, but I didn’t really know how that would translate into a research-driven environment. 

Now as a sophomore, I understand that especially before declaring a major, it can be challenging to forge mentorship connections. Still, during the first two years of my undergraduate experience, I have encountered mentorship in a variety of ways that I would have never expected. Whether it was through my lab-based courses, an internship, or even a recent serendipitous moment, quality mentorship has been a defining part of my Princeton experience.

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research Research Life

The Beauty of Mentorship

the purpose is to represent the main idea of the post: mentorship
A mentor guiding two students on a startup project. Photo Credit: Danielle Alio.

I think mentorship can be highly overlooked in the undergraduate community. This is mostly because we feel that professors and Ph.D. students can be so far in their own fields, and so we’re just intruding in on their time. They’re so impressive that it is almost intimidating. However, in hindsight, you start to realize how important their mentorship becomes in your life. I think a lot of undergraduates value mentorship in the sense that they’re being given an opportunity in the current moment to do research or work on a project. This is the perspective I had on mentorship when I entered research. Luckily, for me, mentorship turned out to be so much more; it’s the gift that keeps on giving. 

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research

Cracking Cold Emails: Reaching Out to Professors in a Way that Works

Screenshot of the Princeton Computational Memory Lab that shows the main faculty, staff, and post-docs in the group.
“People” page of Princeton Computational Memory Lab

Cold-emailing a professor can feel like yelling into the void. You’ve pinpointed your field of interest, done the research on the lab and professor you want to work with, and yet—there’s so much uncertainty. You don’t know what the response will be, or if you’ll even get one at all. You don’t know if the void will yell back, or if your voice will simply disappear.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t maximize your chances. After crafting and sending a few emails, I started to see what actually makes a difference—and it’s not just about hitting “send.”

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Conduct Research Get Started with Research Present & Publish Findings

Proven Tips on How to Read Scientific Literature

A printed article with yellow highlighting under a blue pen with the hands of the person reading and annotating.
A person reads and annotates an article printout. Photo Credit: Y.Arcurs/iStockphoto

In our undergraduate years, as we get involved with research and science, it can be incredibly overwhelming to read scientific literature. It’s easy to drown in hundreds of thousands of articles with fancy-sounding titles, pages and pages of complex writings, and dozens of figures that you have no idea what they mean. However, reading scientific literature is a necessary skill to have, and you must be able to understand what scientists know, and what they don’t. 

Therefore, I’ve created a list of tips and advice to tackle scientific literature as an undergraduate. Follow my advice, and you’re on your way to impress your supervisors with your knowledge, and create a nuanced understanding of where your research lies within the body of knowledge that scientists have been cultivating!

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Get Started with Research Research Life

The Alumni Advantage: Tapping into Princeton’s Network

Princeton alum, many in Orange and Black, participate in the 2013 P-rade.
Princeton alumni P-rade, 2013. Photo credit: Daniel Day.

As Princeton students in 2024, we’ve all heard other students throwing around the terms “connections” and “networking.”  Although I myself was eager to take advantage of Princeton’s vast resources, I didn’t quite know where to start, or how to start. To those of you who are facing a similar dilemma, let me introduce you to an incredible, vastly underutilized resource: our alumni network.

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Get Started with Research Independent Work Research Life

Enhance your Research with Princeton’s Coin Collection

Students at Princeton are fortunate to have access to one of the largest collections of coins anywhere in the United States. Made up of roughly 115,000 items, the collection includes coins, paper money, medals, and other tokens covering almost the entire history of human money— in fact, the university has coins minted in the 6th century BC by Croesus, who is credited with inventing the first system of gold and silver currency. The university’s collection serves many purposes. For example, you may have been in a class which has gone down to Firestone C Floor to look at coins from the time and place you were studying. The coins are also used for exhibitions and workshops. I’m writing here to explain to you how you can use these coins to do great research.

A small gold coin in the photographer's left hand.

Yours truly holding a 1500 year-old coin in Firestone Library

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