Building Research Skills for the Future

by Madelyn Taylor

More students than ever are getting involved in undergraduate research in the College of Engineering. These students are using their laboratory experiences to explore their own futures, while helping to shape the future of engineering as well.

The Importance of Undergraduate Research

While mechanical engineering student Candice Giusti has found that undergraduate work tends to get lost on some large campuses, she believes that it is the faculty commitment and patience at UC Davis that allows students this unique experience. Working under the mentorship of mechanical and aeronautical engineering professor Bruce White in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, Giusti got involved with projects simulating planetary surface conditions to aid in the development of NASA technology, an experience that translated into an internship at the NASA Ames Research Center.

On campus…

By working in the laboratory earlier and earlier—with some students getting a jumpstart in university research while still in high school through programs like COSMOS, the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science­—UC Davis students are gaining a new set of real-world skills and knowledge that will help them shape their futures. Students who work in faculty laboratories gain hands-on experience, a faculty mentor, letters of recommendation, plus a view into graduate school and future research. Some even get the opportunity to publish as undergraduates.

As third-year mechanical engineering student, Joe Fleck, put it, “Get involved. Everything makes more sense when you can see it in application.” And Fleck clearly takes this advice seriously; he began working in the Northern California Nanotechnology Center (NCNC) on the Davis campus as a freshman. Almost two years later, he continues to work under his teacher and mentor, Bob Prohaska, assisting with graduate student research. The NCNC focuses primarily on creating and analyzing nanoscale devices and materials that can be put to use in electronic, medical, biological, environmental and optical research. Although this seems like a wide range of research for one on-campus center, students like Fleck help senior staff keep the lab running smoothly. In fact, Fleck enjoys the challenge. His favorite part of being an engineer is that “you never do the same thing twice. In engineering, there is always something new to discover.”

One of the things making this undergraduate involvement common on the Davis campus is the process for finding a faculty mentor. While some students are recommended by faculty or peers, or find positions through advisers, the majority of students learn of opportunities directly from their professors. Because UC Davis has a broad range of engineering laboratory research programs and facilities, finding a student-professor match can be as simple as approaching a professor after class. Most undergraduates find their research laboratory positions through a present or past professor.

… And off

Because of the wide variety of Education Abroad Programs (EAP), research opportunities are not limited to the Davis campus, or even the United States. Programs ranging from spending a quarter researching and petitioning for new renewable energy systems in Washington, D.C. to conducting polymer-processing research in Hong Kong, provide UC Davis students the opportunity to pursue their research goals far from campus.

For example, Daniel Perez, an 18-year-old UC Davis senior, spent his spring semester combining a crash-course in Japanese with his required biomedical class schedule at Tohoku University in Japan. “Here’s something that the community college I transferred from didn’t offer,” Perez said. “And still I didn’t lose any time working on my degree by getting involved.” This unique program allowed Perez to live and study at one of Japan’s most innovative engineering universities, continuing his regular coursework offered in English. While getting hands-on experience in what he calls the more “hardware-oriented” Japanese culture, Perez also assisted in a laboratory conducting research similar to the tissue-stimulation work he had been involved in on the Davis campus.

The Graduate Studies Connection

Not only does undergraduate research give students hands-on experience that builds their classroom knowledge, it also offers an opportunity to work independently in a laboratory environment, providing a solid foundation for future graduate school exploration. By working in laboratories as undergraduates, students get the chance to work alongside graduate students and get a direct peek into the graduate student’s research mentality. Meanwhile, graduate students taking on an independent research role often mentor small groups of undergraduates with a similar research focus, concentrating more narrowly on an area of study that interests them and supports their thesis work, while also developing their teaching and mentoring skills.

Graduate student Jonathan Woolley studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate at UC Davis while searching for his career path. He decided to continue his studies at UC Davis, hoping to combine his mechanical engineering coursework with his passion for sustainability activism. Crafting his thesis around research on alternate fuel sources, Woolley has become involved in both the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) and the UC Davis Institute for Transportation studies. Seeking to become “more than just an engineer,” Woolley has consciously used his graduate studies to “be motivated by a specific and tangible purpose,” he said. “Find a way to create work that is fulfilling for yourself.”

… For the Future of Research

For many UC Davis students, the search for a tangible purpose draws them into the laboratory. Applying classroom skills in a research environment gives students an opportunity to see their engineering degree in action. Someday their fresh ideas will help to define the future of engineering research. For many, the earlier they start, the better.