I first became interested in research as a high school student. A couple of my friends had worked with professors from local universities and the work that they were doing was really interesting to me. I reached out to a couple of people nearby while in high school and spent a summer learning about what research was really like. When I got to college, I was very forward about asking around about which professors had room for undergraduate researchers. A couple of the professors I reached out to circulated my name around the department and that’s when my mentor, Dr. Streipert reached out to me. Her work was appealing largely because of the fact that I hadn’t really done something similar before and because of the different applications of the research. The models we were working on can be applied to a number of different situations and that broad range of possibilities really interested me. It showed a number of different ways in which I could use math which was something that I really wanted to focus on during my research. 

I have two main pieces of advice I want to give to anyone looking to get into research. The first might seem obvious but to my mind, it bears repeating: don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know something. When you contact professors to inquire about their research or even when working with others, if there are terms you don’t know or concepts you don’t understand you should ask. It might seem a little embarrassing at first to admit that, but the people you are working with will appreciate your honesty. In addition, I also want to talk a little about how to find professors and mentors willing to guide you. The first step in finding a good mentor is learning about the research that is being done in your preferred field already. This can be as simple as looking at the department website and going through bios of individual professors. In addition, approaching a professor who you may have had for class is also a good way to do this: oftentimes even if the professor is not doing research, they may know someone who is looking for an undergraduate student. Finally, once you have met with the professor and got an idea of what the specific project would entail, take some time to think about whether this is a project you can take on. Don’t rush into anything and once you are comfortable with your decision email your professor and get started!

Research will be a big help for me as I move forward in my career. First, I plan on pursuing a PhD in mathematics upon graduation and research is necessary not only to get into grad school but also to do well once I am there. This experience will allow me to have some past experience to draw on when I start to write my dissertation and work on my thesis in graduate school. Additionally, I plan to eventually end up in industry working on solving cutting edge-problems using mathematical models. While that might not traditionally be research, it is very similar in the sense that there is a problem to solve. Many of the skills that I will be acquiring during this research experience will directly transfer over to my future in industry.