Hi everyone! 

My name is Daisy, and I’m a first-year in MRADS majoring in neuroscience and cognitive science. Today I am going to be talking about how MRADS prepares you for research at the University of Michigan. 

ALA Seminars

Throughout the year, everyone in MRADS will take two seminars: ALA 104, which takes place in the fall, and ALA 114, which you take in the winter. Both are taught by Dr. Ragan Glover, the Director of MRADS. These classes are designed to help you throughout the entire research process, including everything from the application process to your final presentation. 

In the fall semester, the class focuses heavily on preparing students for joining a research project. This involves guiding students in writing and organizing a strong resume, honing in on interview skills, and advancing students’ professional development. 

In the winter semester, the class focuses on helping students with presentation skills, science communication, connecting with alumni and networking, and understanding the broader scope of research at Michigan. Something I found particularly helpful was one class where a guest lecturer taught us how to visualize our data to make it understandable for a wider audience, which was something I had originally found really daunting but now feel much more comfortable with. 

Applying to Research

Early on in the academic year, research projects are released in an online portal. All of the research projects in the portal include researchers who want undergraduates to work in their lab, making the search for a research project less daunting than cold emails. Through MRADS, you can browse projects across every discipline, from business to aerospace engineering. As a neuroscience major, I was able to see exactly which labs were doing brain-related work, what their expectations were for students, and who was working at the lab.

One of the great things about MRADS is that it offers guaranteed research during your first-year. By putting in good effort in your application and navigating the research application process based on your interests, you’ll be able to find a research project that’s the right fit for you.

Lab Mentorship

Once you join a lab, you’ll be working directly with a lab mentor to learn about the ins and outs of your research. For me, that included a few training lessons for lab safety and working with mice, but every lab is different. Your lab mentor is there to help you learn about the background of what you’ll be researching and how to carry out lab techniques. Lab mentors are also a great resource for academic and professional guidance.

Symposium

All of this hard work culminates at the end of the year when you present at the MRADS research symposium. This is a massive event where MRADS students get to showcase the research projects that they’ve worked on throughout the year. You create a poster that you can present to your peers, mentors, and faculty. You also get to see your friends present their research projects and learn about what they’ve been researching all year.