Why you should get involved with research at Mount Allison

Author: Zoe Lindensmith
Posted on February 21, 2023

If you’ve been looking at science programs at different universities, you’ve probably noticed that research opportunities are a selling point for many primarily undergraduate institutions. As a prospective student, this was something I was told to look for – but I didn’t really understand why. Now, as a third-year Biochemistry student looking to conduct my honours research this summer, I’m here to tell you how research can be an invaluable part of your experience at Mount Allison.

            I had the opportunity to complete my own independent research project in Chemistry last summer, after my second year. I sought out a supervisor in the fall of my second year, applied for and received funding for 15 weeks of full-time work through an external organization, and worked in her lab for the summer. Typically, supervisors have one or several projects in mind that students can take on that contribute to their research, which they hope to eventually publish. My advice is to speak to as many potential supervisors as you can, to find someone whose work you’re interested in and who you think you would work well with. You can check out the projects of faculty in different departments on the MtA website!

            There are innumerable benefits to doing research. My main motivation was to get an idea of how scientific research actually works, as I’d been considering pursuing it as a career for several years but was terrified that I didn’t understand the day-to-day of the job, and wouldn’t actually enjoy it. In my opinion, learning more about the workflow and general process of research was a HUGE benefit, but I also learned skills I didn’t expect. I was able to practice troubleshooting experiments and learned to think about the protocols I used in a way that doing them once in a teaching lab doesn’t necessarily encourage, which gave me a deeper appreciation for the consideration that goes into the experiments we use for any given purpose. The technical lab skills and data presentation abilities I gained also helped me with subsequent labs I did for my degree. I found that tasks I’d still struggled with at the end of second year were second nature for me in my third-year labs.

            There are many ways students participate in research throughout their degrees. As early as first year, you can reach out to professors to discuss volunteer positions in their lab, where you can get an idea of how a research lab operates and connect with upper-year students in their group. If you’re interested in doing your own project within the scope of a particular professor’s research, you can seek out a job in a university lab over the summer, or complete an independent study. This is a one- or two-semester long project you conduct for course credit under supervision of a professor, usually in third or fourth year. In your fourth year, you can also pursue a thesis-based honours, which would also involve research under a professor’s supervision, and completion of a full write-up of your work. Whatever you choose to do, I highly encourage you to talk to professors about their work and how to get involved. All you have to do is ask!