Northwestern University

Research Assitant

June - September 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I liked the autonomy granted to me. I was able to work on anything from participant outreach interviews to literature reviews. Wonderful learning experience, though there was a large learning curve!

What I wish was different

I wish that it would have been in-person. I know that this is probably a common disgruntlement, but we were working with different social services and being able to go there in-person would have been phenomenal!

Advice

There's a lot of opportunity for personal growth when you a lot of autonomy in your role.

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Research Assistant

June - August 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

This was great research experience and allowed me to practice Arabic and help launch my thesis planning

What I wish was different

Advice

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June - September 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Don't be afraid to reach out resources on different tiers. You have peers, student offices like career centers, faculty mentors, graduate students etc. There are multiple layers you can look to.

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Student Researcher

July - September 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

The Office of Undergraduate Research is staffed and supported by people always willing to help students along on their personal research journey. I appreciated the freedom, academic and artistic, I was allowed, and the stipend was generous enough that I didn't have to worry about paying rent!

What I wish was different

Advice

Set a schedule early but allow yourself the flexibility to change it. Daily schedules made all the difference to me!

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Undergraduate Researcher

July - September 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

It was challenging but rewarding to be in charge of my own schedule, goals, and deadlines. I liked being able to focus on a creative output (an album of children's music) with practical goals (provide representation for queer/non-normative families).

What I wish was different

I wish I had been able to interview people in-person and interact with children directly but was unable to due to social distancing protocol.

Advice

Trust that what you can create is worth spending your time on and sharing with the world.

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Economics Research Assistant

June - August 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

Great experience, learned a lot about industry.

What I wish was different

More collaboration with other research assistants.

Advice

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Environmental Engineering Research Assistant

June 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

The flexibility, and a pretty good hourly wage. Plus it was remote, and the research was interesting with a patient PI

What I wish was different

Given that I got this position during the pandemic, I thought this was a pretty ideal experience

Advice

Communicate clearly with professors, and make sure you understand the material. Don't try to pretend that you understand it

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computational biology intern

June - August 2020 • Livermore, CA

What I liked

The freedom to choose my own schedule.

What I wish was different

Nothing.

Advice

You don't have to be a computer science wiz to thrive in a computational biology lab

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Teacher's Assistant

June - August 2020 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I loved the work environment at Northwestern Academy for Chicago Public Schools. As a former participant in the program, I was given the ability to co-design and present in class. Some of my duties included: -Provided 1:1 and group workshop support to CPS high school students on topics such as academic skill development, career exploration, and mindfulness -Co-facilitated courses with CPS English teacher to support students (40+ juniors and seniors) in developing their writing skills and storytelling abilities -Co-designed an independent project to promote mental health awareness and self-care practices; surveyed program alum, compiled resources, and led discussions and activities for youth to center their own experiences -Provided facilitation support for a course titled “Negotiation with the Self, Others, and Systems”, leading discussions and activities on best practices for negotiation and conflict management -Collaborated with full-time staff to implement the annual College Transition Summit, leading virtual panels and workshops on money management, decision-making, campus climate, and accessing academic resources Since I was given the freedom to lead most of the aforementioned, I loved every bit of it.

What I wish was different

Nothing!

Advice

Come to work with a smile, encouraging words, drive, and care for community - you can't go wrong!

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Research

June - August 2019 • Chicago, IL

What I liked

I really enjoyed the research. My lab was very small so my work played a big part. My PI was great and I actually got to interact with her a lot, which is sometimes rare in well known universities.

What I wish was different

I wish it had been longer.

Advice

The only bad part was that we lived in Evanston, which is about an hour bus ride to where we worked in Chicago. Granted, housing was paid for us and there was a food stipend for the first half of the program. Just get creative to do fun things on the weekends!

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Residential Assistant

June - August 2019 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I enjoyed the relationships I was able to build with the 4th through 6th grade children that attended the 6 week program. The children were extremely smart and wanted to enhance their learning ability while enjoying time with their peers. I also worked with an amazing staff that communicated well with one another for all tasks that had to be done.

What I wish was different

I wish that RA's were able to give their contact information to the children after the program. I hope nothing but the best for these children as they progress through school and life, but the staff was not allowed to give any contact information to the students , so I have no way of checking on them.

Advice

For others, I would advise them to be patient with the children because they are not as mature or mentally developed as college students.

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Research Intern

June - August 2019 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

Amazing mentors and cohort of fellow researchers. Northwestern University has cutting edge technology available for researchers to use. Students being introduced to scientific research are able to explore a variety of techniques and fields.

What I wish was different

This was altogether an amazing experience.

Advice

Don't be afraid to ask for guidance, but also take every opportunity to grow as an independent researcher.

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Residential assistant

June - August 2019 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I was able to work with kids, and I love working with kids.

What I wish was different

Working with some of the staff members were a little but difficult. Being able to have all of the staff members to enjoy their job wouldve been nice.

Advice

Be patient. With any job, you need to be able to have patience. Especially with a demanding job like this one.

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Synthetic Biology Researcher

June - October 2018 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

It was a great opportunity to get introduced to research in synthetic biology. By being team-driven but professor-supported, the team got to make executive decisions on what the project would be and ways to complete it with the help of advisors.

What I wish was different

I wish the advisors gave a little more direction and background to the project. Sometimes it was just the team trying to teach itself, which was difficult when talking about synthetic biology.

Advice

Don't be afraid to ask questions!

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Access Services Aide

June 2016 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

It's a good work environment, a lot calmer in the summer. It lets you still feel connected to campus.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June - August 2018 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I really liked the research group I joined and all the available experimental resources.

What I wish was different

The mentoring system in place is hit or miss. In my case it wasted a lot of time, in others it made their experience great.

Advice

Apply, apply, apply! Also, talk directly to Bruce Lindval, Kathleen Stair, and Patty Sekirka.

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Center for Talent Development - Residential Assistant

June - August 2018 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I was able to form a tight-knit community with the staff at CTD.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Social Science Research Assistant

June - September 2018 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I enjoyed taking coding classes that offered background for the codes, created by the Graduate Students on the research team, to parse through and organize data from the tens of thousands of articles relating to our subject (the #MeToo Movement). I gained practical skills and was guided through the entire research procedure rather than mindlessly web scraping. In addition, I manually collected data from randomly selected articles and identified key words and phrases to apply to the general code used for all articles.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June 2018 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

I enjoyed the topic of the research immensely, I found that I'm very interested in planetary science in addition to astrophysics.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Psychologist Research Assistant

June 2018 • Evanston, IL

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Befriend professors with interesting research throughout the year - that way, when URAP grants come into play for the summer, they already know your name and interests. Don't be afraid to reach out and ask if they're planning to use a research assistant in the summer, but make sure to check out their past work before you do!

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