Are you interested in developing your technical skill set, making discoveries, sharing your discoveries with the community, and preparing for your career in STEM?

Undergraduate research provides all of these opportunities and more! Rose-Hulman offers numerous opportunities during the school year and summer to get involved in research in the Lane lab and others. If you’re interested in joining the Lane research team or just generally curious about research, I’d love to get to know you better. Just use my contact form to reach out! 

FAQs About Undergraduate Research

Do I have to be a specific major to join the Lane team?

No! The only absolute requirements are time to consistently commit to research (at least 5 hours/week) AND a genuine interest in and curiosity for natural product science and learning about the challenging and rewarding (and sometimes frustrating!) process of scientific research.

I’m only in my first year of college. Is it too early to get involved in research?

No! Research in the Lane lab is based on “learning by doing”, so you don’t need to enter research with a specific prerequisite skillset. Instead, you will be mentored 1:1 by Dr. Lane and/or your lab peers to learn safe and effective experimental procedures and to develop knowledge of your project as well as its underlying chemical and biological principles. 

Why should I engage in undergraduate research?

Undergraduate research is an opportunity to advance your technical skillset beyond what’s possible in typical laboratory courses, a way to explore research as a potential career path, a chance to develop your presentation skills, and a stellar means to build your resume for landing your first job or gaining admissions to graduate school. In fact, undergraduate research is increasingly becoming an informal prerequisite for admission to top-tier graduate programs in science. Undergraduate research is also a chance to make impactful discoveries, since you’ll work on the edge of scientific knowledge to advance your area of study. (FYI: It’s pretty fun to do something that has never been done and to share your advancements with the world.) Research will challenge your persistence, your patience, your critical thinking skills, and more. Through this, you will emerge better prepared to tackle future challenges as a STEM professional.

What expectations are there for student researchers in the Lane lab?

As a member of the Lane lab team, you will be guided by Dr. Lane to execute experiments using safe practices, collect and analyze data with rigor and integrity, maintain an accurate and up-to-date lab notebook, and ultimately present your results at conferences and/or in research publications. You are expected to commit to each of these good practices. As a member of the team, you are also expected to contribute toward a lab environment of collaboration, cooperation, and collegiality, to pursue research consistently (5+ hours/week during the term), to help new labmates develop their skillsets, and to contribute your unique life experiences and skills toward solving challenges in the natural product field.