Research as a Freshman

By: Ananya Koripella, Freshman EC Scholar

One thing I hear often when I mention to someone that I am doing research at Brody is, “Aren’t you a freshman?” At first, I was a little startled when I got that reaction because I had not realized that a majority of freshmen do not participate in research but rather wait until their sophomore year to begin. There is no harm in doing either but if you see an opportunity that you like, take it and run with it.

When I first heard about this opportunity, I was intrigued by the mention of Drosophila melanogaster. I had worked with these fruit flies before in my AP Biology class and automatically was interested. Being a Public Health Studies major and Pre-Med, naturally I found the research’s links to obesity and metabolic syndrome even more interesting. All it took was an email and a meeting for me to get the research assistant position. Being a freshman, I thought that it would be difficult to get acclimated to the environment, get used to all the terminology that the upperclassmen use in the lab and learn the procedures. However, everyone has always been ready to lend a hand and help me learn. The fact that I’m a freshman has never been counted against me and I don’t think it would for any other freshman interested in research either.

Every day that I go to Brody, I learn something new. It could be the smallest thing about lab protocol or something bigger about the flies and the way they are reacting to the stimuli we give them. Just last week I even got to learn the process we use to sacrifice a mouse for cell cultures!

If you’re interested in doing research, just look for a topic you’re interested in. Don’t wait for it to find you, go find it. Sometimes opportunities do fall into our laps, but other times we find what we want just by looking. We attend a university that thrives on helping its students. Being in the Honors College is an even bigger blessing. Talk to different people, ask around and use the resources that are provided to us. Most of all, if you are a freshman, don’t let it stop you from doing something you’re interested in.