Past students of EP 468, Introduction to Engineering Research,
share advice for success with the research project.

University of Wisconsin-Madison 
September 2009

Speaker 1:

One thing that really surprised me was how willing 
and almost eager the professors were to talk to me
about their research and working with me.
I thought they might be a little hesitant or reluctant,
but they actually were quite eager and happy to do it.

Speaker 2:

After you've met with several potential research advisors
and you think you've found an ideal project,
just try and meet with a few more, because you never
know when something that really grabs you might come along,
and you have to keep in mind 
that you're going to be working
on this the next three semesters, 
and you don't want it to be a drag,
so use the full expanse of the semester that you have available
to try and find someone that you can work with and some
project that really gets you excited.
Now these four semesters can be a lot of fun,
but you need to get ahead of the game early 
and do your best to stay ahead.
And if you do this, I guarantee that things will be 
much easier for you. Good luck!

Speaker 3:

The second thing I found helpful was to become active 
in the research group.
I think most research groups have weekly meetings,
at least, in my experience, that's what I have come to realize.
And so you should bring yourself to go to those meetings
and ask questions if you don't understand anything,
and don't be afraid to ask questions,
because they don't expect you to know everything 
in the beginning.

Copyright 2009 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
Created 5/15/2009. Last modified 5/15/2009.