choosing between two labs

[rpatel3001]

My school has set up a program within the materials science & engineering department for honors freshman engineering students to find a place in one of their labs. I've met with two professors whose research sounded fairly interesting and now I've got to choose which one to start in next semester. On the one hand is a lab doing research relevant to my electrical and computer engineering major with 2 dimensional materials, and on the other is a lab doing research with nanomaterials, with direct medical applications. I'm far more interested in the nanoparticle research, but the other professor's lab creates far more publications (8-15 per year) than the other (2-4 per year).

Is there a reasonable likelihood that I could be listed as an author on a paper as a freshman and have it make a difference re: med school?

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[SpartanWolverine]

Is it reasonable that you will be published on a paper as a freshman? No. As a new lab member who will, honestly, likely have very little to add to a project, you should not have the expectation of being included on a publication without multiple years of significant contributions. Even then, there's no guarantee. A more logical goal is carving out a small pilot project or working on a portion of a project that leads to a poster presentation (and possibly more). Have you spoken with the PIs about their expectations for undergraduate students (i.e., how many hours of work, if they even allow undergraduates on publications, what kind of projects you could work on, etc.)? Has either lab previously included undergraduate students on their publications?

 

[rpatel3001]

Thank you for the realistic expectation setting. I pretty quickly figured this out and moved forward with the nanomaterials lab.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Thank you for the realistic expectation setting. I pretty quickly figured this out and moved forward with the nanomaterials lab.

Good luck with the research! Doing what interests you most is a safe bet (and having medical implications is also a bonus).

I didn't mean to sound harsh in my last post; I just wanted to convey that publishing as an undergrad is generally very difficult and can depend a lot on how the individual PI determines authorship.