Yes, I shouted in the title. Finals are upon me, I have a lab final this Friday, another final next Monday and then one the week after that. Again, this is not the fun part of going back to school. I’m pretty stressed about grades and exams and such, but I’m trying to keep on going.
Some people say that the Thanksgiving holiday is reinvigorating and helps them “charge up” for the coming exams. For me, the Thanksgiving holiday just made me realize how much I’m ready to be done. I’ve done all the learning and now I’m just at that horrible testing phase.
There has been something else weighing on my mind for a little while now. I’m never going to learn everything in electrical engineering/electronics. Now this is probably very obvious to anyone who has knowledge about the field, but for me it was a little hard to swallow. There is just so much to know. I’ve talked with some older engineers and they are so full of experience that will take me years and years and years to learn.
I’m also thinking about trying to dip my toe into research and I’m stymied at the process. Where do I begin? Should I just go through the professors at my school who are doing research in areas that seem interesting to me and then ask them if they need any help? There doesn’t seem to be any sort of centralized listing of openings so it looks like I just need to approach professors individually. I’m thinking I’ll do some research over the Christmas break and then from there I’ll send out some cover letters/resumes. Hope I can find something!
Oh! Head over to The Amp Hour for a great show this week. LEDs!!
Good luck on your exams!!
To get involved in undergraduate research, look at the departmental website to identify professors you think are doing interesting work, and then email them to set up a meeting to discuss any research opportunities in their group. Depending on the group, they may be a bit slow to get back to you, since they may ask their graduate students if they have a side project that would be reasonable.
There are also typically summer research programs (SURE or SURF are the two most common acronyms for staying at your home institution). There’s also the NSF REU program for research away from your main institution.