"Don't be afraid to cold-email researchers at Brown and don't be intimidated by others' who are coming in with lots of research experience already. Many faculty are welcoming and will assume that you are coming in with no research experience. A good lab environment will be one that uses their resources and time to train you in the skills you'll need to be successful at the bench."

"One challenge I have had is when my assay results did not match what I expected. I talked with my PI and thought about reasons why I might have seen these results. For example, I had conducted an ELISA, and the anti-cytokine autoantibodies that we were testing for had the highest optical density on the outer rows. My PI mentioned the possibility of an edge-effect, when there are differences in outer rows due to various factors such as temperature or pipetting. With this in mind, I changed my plate setup to account for this. The results were about the same, verifying that they were valid optical densities."

"You don't always have to go the classic, join a lab, do unpaid work for several semesters, and then do a thesis that continues the professor's work. There is a whole world of research, and you as a Brown undergraduate have what it takes to get outside funding and pursue your interests. Beyond that, a researcher is anyone with a question about the world. Research is not just some obligatory step in the path to grad school, or med school; it's a way of adding your contribution to a topic you're passionate about. That can come from multiple backgrounds."