Hi! my name is Nikki, I am a fourth-year Natural Resource Science student. I got involved in research by having a faculty member, Dr. Karl Larsen, approach me to apply for a UREAP scholarship and lead my own wildlife study over the summer! I spent a field season collecting data on the behavioural ecology of the Western terrestrial garter snake in an urban city park, and I’ve turned the data I collected into my honours thesis (which I am currently working on). With completing my own self-ran research and transforming it into an honours, I feel confident that I will be able to pursue a masters in the future.
If I could offer a piece of advice to student considering getting involved in research, I would say approach your faculty members and let them know. Unless you get an overly enthusiastic research-driven prof asking students, they don’t know you want to get involved! Profs want to work with you to get the most out of your education and they want you to succeed, so ask as professors teaching topics interesting to you if they are currently working on any projects that may need research assistants or if they have any projects for you to lead yourself!