Send that Email: My Journey as a First-Year Researcher
You may have heard about the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research through a friend, a class visit, or your advisor. All of them are going to tell you the same thing: This is how you can get paid to do research—all majors, all years. The opportunities are endless, it looks incredible on a resumé, and you gain real-world experience as a researcher in whatever field you choose. Anyone can be a part of this, but how do you begin?
Coming to UNH, I didn’t think I would be able to do research in my first year. I assumed that professors only work with upperclassmen, if they take any undergraduates at all. I could not have been more mistaken. During my freshman seminar in the fall semester, two professors visited to discuss potential career paths with us. One worked as a research field technician who would collect samples for scientists around UNH from a wide variety of environments. The other was a microbial ecologist who studied the health of salt marshes and other environments using the DNA of microbes found in surrounding soils. As I listened to the second professor speak, my eyes were shining like stars, as it sounded like the exact field I wanted to be in, yet I previously had no idea it even existed. Though I am a genetics major, I have always loved the environment, and salt marshes in particular, and I wanted to study their health and restoration techniques. This was the perfect mending of my two passions, and I knew I had to be a part of it.
Following this class, I wrote an email to Dr. Ashley Bulseco, the microbial ecologist, asking her about openings in her lab for first-year students. I wrote that email and… didn’t send it. For weeks, it sat in my drafts. I was too scared to send it lest I embarrass myself with my lack of qualifications. My high school didn’t have any real, state-of-the-art labs, and I was still learning how to properly set up experiments in my college biology class. I didn’t know anything about microbes, and I hadn’t even taken a genetics class yet. Was I cut out for research? Finally, close to the end of the semester, I had an epiphany: The worst thing she could do was ignore the email.
So, I sent it. After waiting only a day, she responded, asking to meet with me. We had a lovely conversation about student research, my interests, her publications, and ongoing experiments, and by the end of it, I had my heart set on being a part of her team. Dr. Bulseco gave me a tour of the Spaulding lab where she and her students worked, and soon I was learning how to use some of her lab equipment.
In the spring semester, I began doing DNA extractions, coding in R-Studio (which I’m still a bit terrified of), and regularly sitting in on lab meetings. I volunteered weekly in her lab with other undergraduate students and found myself growing greatly as a scientist and a person. My focus of research was characterizing microbes found in “healthy” marshes, “unhealthy” marshes, and marshes undergoing restoration. To do this, I extracted DNA from soil samples and matched it to the known DNA of different microbes, giving us a full picture of the community. By comparing microbial communities from each of these salt marshes, we could decipher if the restoration was aiding these microscopic ecosystems or just changing the marsh physically. Dr. Bulseco worked alongside me, teaching me every step of the way, until I was comfortable enough to do the work on my own.
At the end of the semester, I presented at the Undergraduate Research Conference, an opportunity I am forever grateful for. I’ll never forget presenting my own research to real scientists, people whose work I’d only admired. I even got to present my work to one of my professors, which was so special to me.
Dr. Bulseco and I wanted to continue our project, so she helped me write my first-ever grant application for an Undergraduate Research Award through the Hamel Center. Now, as a sophomore, I get paid to do my own research. All of this, just because I sent that email.
This is a long-winded way to give my advice to anyone thinking about starting research at UNH. Talk to your favorite professor after class and tell them your ideas. Or stop by office hours and ask them about what they’re working on. Look at the faculty websites to see their past publications and current research. Check out the Hamel Center’s Undergraduate Research Directory. Ask your advisor who they’d recommend. The worst thing a professor can do is ignore you, and the best thing they can do is answer. You’ll never find out if your message just sits there getting dusty in the drafts folder, however, so rip off that band-aid and send that email.
