Sarah Ash, professor in nutrition sciences, started her career in research on a walk down an intimidating hall through Harvard’s nutrition department in its school of public health.

According to Ash, she stopped by each office, door to door, until someone gave her the time of day for her to ask if she could somehow get involved in research.

Ash, who was undecided about what career road to take at the time, said research verified her ambitions to pursue nutrition sciences as a career.

Research is an invaluable experience, according to Interim Director for the Office of Undergraduate Research, Judy Day, and its scope reaches beyond the sciences and delves into economics and the humanities too.

But getting involved in research doesn’t mean being an Einstein. According to Day, all the answers and brains aren’t necessary.

“If you already knew it, you wouldn’t need to research it,” Day said. “But research is a great way to expand your horizons as well as see if it is something you really want to pursue as a career.”

The following are tips on how a student can get started in research.

1. Don’t wait

According to Day, the sooner a student gets involved in research, the better.

“We are really pushing freshmen and sophomores to look into working in research, because the sooner you establish ties with a professor, the more they can take away from it,” Day said.

Research is a long process with many tedious obstacles, and starting in a lab senior spring may only scratch the surface of what research entails.

According to Jennifer Miller, professor in microbiology, employers and graduate school look at this with tremendous scrutiny.

“It’s critical. I did research in school but I even took time off to work as a lab tech, since a lot of programs I was applying to wanted to see real world experience,” Miller said. “You also get an appreciation for the day to day grind of lab work. You have to be in a lab for every day for eight hours and find out whether this setting is for you.”

2. Get informed and find a mentor

Day said she advises that students find professors doing something they find interesting.

“I go over the website to see what faculty members are doing,” Day said. “Everyone here has done research in order to get the titles they have. As a student, you have to do the homework and find someone you would like to work under.”

Day stressed the importance of getting prepared, like pulling a recent paper a research professor has written.

3. Make an appointment

“Don’t send mass emails,” Day said. “You need to be specific and let them know you’ve done your homework. Then they can take you seriously.”

Day and Miller said an ideal applicant to get involved in research must demonstrate how there will be a mutual benefit between professor and student.

“You need to address why they would be a good fit,” Day said.

Sometimes, it means being in the right place at the right time. For Miller, she asked her former microbiology professor if she could join the professor’s lab.

“She only had one other student, so she said yes,” Miller said.

4. Find a fellowship

“If you have already have dabbled in research and gotten some good experience, you can start looking at different fellowships,” Day said.

Once a student has acquired lab skills and thoroughly understand the scientific process, they can branch off into something more independent, according to Day.

She said independent undergraduate research is a way to get the fully immersed experience of research and is a way to impress future employers or educators.

5. Ditch the summer partying in Atlantic City

According to Miller, the downtime in the summer allows her to focus on her research and her students helping.

Additionally, the National Science Foundation grants money for Research Experiences for Undergraduates.

“The REU is a resource for undergraduates that grants students between $3500 and $5000 and often pays for students to travel,” Day said. “If there is a university or professor you are interested in, you can check it out and they can help you get there.”