Finding Research Opportunities

Upper year students discuss searching for university placements

The University of Toronto is a centre for cutting-edge research, providing many opportunities for students to lead and participate in projects. It can be daunting, however, to find a professor or laboratory to join, especially in first year. For many students coming out of high school, it seems like the most fascinating and innovative research projects exclude new undergraduates simply based on qualifications and experience. Further, Research Opportunity Programs may not be a perfect fit for some schedules. However, there are many paths to finding research opportunities at the University. We interviewed some upper-year students about their experiences in research.

Quinlan Sykora

What do you and your team research?

My research team works in robotics. Specifically, we work on swarm robotics and aerial control. We are searching to control a swarm using local “policies.” Simply put, we are trying not to use one computer to control the drones, but are instead trying to distribute the control of the swarm among every individual drone. Therefore, each drone is responsible for understanding its position and planning its action based on where it is. Interestingly, this is how neurons communicate and how intelligence arises on a high level.

How did you find this position?

I was thinking about how I wanted to spend my summer, and decided that research would be productive for getting more experience in robotics. So, I made a list of every professor that worked in a field I was interested in and emailed away. It was actually disheartening at first, because only about twenty-five percent answered to say that I didn’t have the prerequisite knowledge from upper-year courses to contribute to their research. Robotics is an exclusive field because you need to know enough code to even begin to understand the project itself, let alone create new experiments. This year, there were way more applicants mainly due to a popular lecture one professor gave on getting undergraduates involved in robotics. However, at this talk, I asked her a question during her presentation and emailed her afterwards stating my interest. I ended up working in her lab this past summer!

What makes for a good research applicant?

I think the undergraduate researchers that do well in a lab are those who are the most engaged. Professors like someone who can self-manage. It’s important to remember that the undergrad is never really at the centre of the research. If they work hard and help the project progress, then that’s good enough! You also want to be a person that professors enjoy being around for an entire semester. Some things, like having experience, you can’t control, but you can control how you act. You’ll set yourself up really well if you show that you’re ready to learn.

Michal Leckie

What do you and your team research?

I have worked with the Placenta Lab at the University of Ottawa for the past two summers. We work on understanding the structure and function of the placenta, specifically its role in preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a disorder of pregnancy in which the mother experiences high blood pressure and the beginnings of organ failure. The placenta is thought to often be the culprit. Our lab works to subclass preeclampsia based on morphological and molecular changes in the placenta, and relates these findings to clinical presentations.

What helped you get started when looking for research positions?

I started by looking on university websites as well as in the research sections of hospital websites, checking out every researcher. I contacted a wide range of researchers, and kept the area of research broad. I sent many emails before I got any replies, and most labs responded saying they didn’t need students at the moment. What helped me was persistence! You should keep emailing people even when it seems late, and keep an open mind about the nature of the position and the research.

Do you make cold calls? How do you put your best foot forward? 

“Cold emails” are easier! In emails, I wrote a brief note about who I was, what and where I was studying, and what I was in search of. I wrote about the areas of their research which interested me most, and how I would like to be involved. I then provided a few relevant experiences (like prior lab work, research courses, etc.), and some less relevant details (such as my involvement in environmental activism at school and racing with the mountain bike team).

Christopher Sims

What do you and your team research?

The G20 Research Group researches how well the G20 member states have fulfilled the commitments they made at the last year’s summit—in this case, the 2017 summit in Hamburg, Germany.  These commitment areas range from preventing corruption to improving women’s access to labour markets to combating climate change. We write a three- to four-page report on each member state’s progress in each of ten commitment areas—as you can imagine, it’s usually a pretty long report (last year’s was over 600 pages).  I’m a lead analyst in my group, so I, along with the compliance director, supervise a team of ten compliance analysts who each write two reports.

What helped you get started when looking for research positions?

Well, I had kept my eyes peeled for these sorts of opportunities, although I completely missed the first recruitment cycle.  This one came to me as an email—definitely pay attention to those mailing lists your departments send you!  They are usually where a lot of these opportunities are communicated to you. I applied fairly late, but still got an interview and eventually a position as a compliance analyst for the Corruption Committee, analyzing South Korea and Japan. I later took on Germany and France in the second half of the year.

What makes for a good research applicant?

Well, I can easily tell you what makes for a good researcher once your foot’s in the door: follow the instructions given, be prompt in your correspondence and in following the deadlines, and edit your products before you submit them. Although our Corruption group was overall very good this past school year, it really impressed me when the compliance analysts took the extra time to make sure their reports were well written, were well researched, and conformed to the fairly demanding style guide.

Annissa Ho

What do you and your team research?

The Rochman Lab investigates microplastic pollution sources and sinks! I work in quantifying microplastic concentrations in different San Francisco Bay areas. We get samples from several locations such as Central Bay, South, and Lower South Bay, and analyse different matrices of interest. Some matrices include wastewater, surface water, and sediment. We count the amount of microplastic in each sample under microscopes!

How did you find this position?

I found this position through the Research Opportunity Program (ROP) at UofT. During March, applications are due for different labs advertised on the website.

What advice would you have for first-year students looking for research opportunities? 

Do not be too specific about what kind of research you want to pursue! It is good to know what you want to do with your life, but gaining more experience in other areas won’t hurt. If there is one lab you know you want to work in, correspond with the researcher via email regularly using the same email chain so they remember who you are. However, make sure to avoid annoying and excessive emailing.

What is the most rewarding part about doing research?

The most rewarding part is the feeling of actively contributing to change! We are pursuing post-secondary studies because we enjoy learning and pushing the boundaries of what we know. Research is a fun and challenging way to apply your knowledge from classes and it is satisfying to know that your efforts yield impactful results.

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