(2/2) A Day in the Life of an Academic Researcher

A little bit about what it's like in a research laboratory at a university. I'll answer questions about the people, the money, the culture, and the day to day activities. The images are a bunch of random screen grabs. Some are photos I have taken, but I won't say which.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Research
• Lab
• Academic
• Culture
• R01
• NIH
• post-doc
• biology
• education
• molecular
• discovery
• Thunderf00t

[soulf2]

2:09 Other than the U.S., researchers are often from everywhere else other than the U.S. (except South America). Nope, no researchers come from South America.

[C0nc0rdance]

Crap. Sorry about that. To tell the truth, I was counting off the nationalities of my colleagues and staff, and none of them are from Central or South America.

No slight was intended.

[missmaria212]

Thanks for this video. Very interesting, as I'm considering in what direction to head with my education right now...

The end through me off a little, lol ('may god have mercy on your soul!' - if that was a joke I didn't get it)

[C0nc0rdance]

Nerusai nailed it. You are looking at an incredibly long road to your first faculty spot. You will need a high tolerance to frustration and stress.

I made a video on "How to Become a Scientist" that you might check out. You are looking at 4-5 years undergrad, 3-7 years grad, 2-10 years post-doc before you can realistically get a faculty job in a university. That's 9-22 years of study. Make sure you are prepared for that kind of commitment before you start out.

Good luck!

[Akhotnik]

Can't wait to start grad school. :D

[sosolidshoe2]

Very interesting, thank you. I'm currently going back into education in my mid-twenties(don't get yourself labelled as a "problem child", even if you have a legitimate disorder like HFA, your education will get f'd-up), studying science, and I would love to do research and teaching.

I console myself with the idea that even if I'm not as smart as I think I am, I can at least do some good for science by becoming involved in politics and using my education to shape policy. Or work in ASDA, heh.

[Azremodehar]

Thank you for posting this. It's been my dream to get into research (albeit in the fields of astronomy and physics) since I was about six years old, and I'm glad to see that it does, in fact, entail exactly what I've always thought it does. :D

[GreatgoatonFire]

I just wanted to say that I fund this video to be really inspiring.

[vnorthru]

I love the ending. I know my lab technician thinks I am insane for wanting to do a PhD and basically the amount of hours I put in. This was a great video and gives at least a basic idea of how research is done and the diversity found among academia. I have to agree, though the road can be frustrating, the payoff is worth it and the constant challenge makes it interesting.

[fatmon]

Wonderful videos, you explain very well how it all works. I have been fortunate because right now I am a sophomore undergrad and I was able to get into a lab to do research. So before I go to grad school or medical school I will have 3 years of research under my belt. I thought it was a little boring at first but then I started getting more things I had to do in the lab and now I really enjoy it!

[grieske]

I do mostly theoretical research, in close collaboration with a PhD student who does mostly experimental work. I don't have lab notebooks, but I do have many documents filled with calculations that I have done over the years.

[technologysucks]

What happens in review board meetings for animal and human subject research? What's wrong with 'em?

[AntiCitizenX]

I really enjoyed this video. I'm working on my PhD in Electrical Engineering, and nearly everything you said is perfectly analogous to the lab that I work in.

[drokles]

I'd like being a researcher but I don't have perfect grades, so getting a scholarship and all that will be too expensive.