To new research assistants: show up as you are – everyone has to start somewhere.

By: Rebecca Austria

As a first year coming into a research lab, I always felt like I had impossibly big shoes to fill. I sat quietly during lab meetings, stomach churning, panicked, and writing down everything I heard – desperate to make sense of it all. The world of academic research felt so foreign to me and because of this, I struggled to get a word in during meetings- not wanting to show my confusion or say the wrong thing in fear of looking dumb. I didn’t participate fully in discussions because I felt like, unlike my fellow research assistants, I had no ground-breaking and thought-provoking observations to share. In my mind, the lab had already researched, published, and discovered so much – what could I possibly bring to the table? I didn’t want to do too much or too little, so instead I did nothing. I started to think that maybe I wasn’t cut out for research. Maybe I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. Maybe this wasn’t the field for me! 

Luckily, I fell under the mentorship of my fellow research assistant Zoe, and alumni Rachel and Emily. Zoe reassured me that I wasn’t alone in my confusion, and together, we took on the seemingly gargantuan tasks of learning how to use Zotero and write annotated bibliographies. Before working with Rachel and Emily, they seemed larger than life, attending grad school and publishing papers I didn’t even know how to write! While collaborating with them, I learned that they too, used to be the newest and youngest members of the lab. Everyone has to start somewhere, and as long as you’re willing to learn, senior members of the lab will always be down to help! Seeing lab members as peers and resources rather than unreachable idols helped me be more honest about which tasks were challenging for me, and ask for further clarification on how I could improve. Your fellow research assistants and lab managers aren’t as big and untouchable as they seem, they too, can be people to laugh with and learn from. 

Being honest about what was challenging and asking for clarification was a key part of the process of acclimating to the lab. Over the span of my first year, I worked on my first conference poster, completing a regression analysis and designing the layout of the poster. My years of designing elaborate binder covers on Google Docs and making my own custom wallpapers on Canva came in handy when designing the poster and ensuring the research findings were both easy to read and presented aesthetically.  I accompanied the team in presenting our first poster at the Human Behavior Research Conference (HBRC). My experience recruiting and tabling for other campus organizations I’m involved in helped build the social confidence I needed to approach attendees who were interested in the poster. It also taught me how to communicate my elevator pitch effectively so I could quickly summarize the main findings of the poster and highlight what I wanted people to take away. As I spent more time in the lab, I found that even if I hadn’t had research-specific experience, chances are, I still had skills that would come in handy during the research process.  Don’t discount the knowledge you have just because it’s not research-specific! You are here for a reason. You likely know more than you think, and are likely doing better than you think you are! 

In the past year, I went from barely speaking in my first meetings, to leading a project and presenting preliminary research findings to the Dean’s Circle and CARD! By leaning on my mentors and peers, trusting in the knowledge I did have while being open to learning more research-specific skills, and doing the projects/asking questions even when they seemed daunting and scary; I’m starting to seriously consider going into the world of research and exploring the possibility of pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Maybe I am capable of this kind of work. I can do challenging things. And you can too!