Honors Colloquium Reflection

Research represents my favorite topic discussed during the honors colloquium, and because of this I chose it to be the topic of my capstone project. Prior to becoming an FSU student, I had absolutely no experience with research. I possessed only a nebulous idea of what constituted research and the ability of undergraduate students to involve themselves in it. On my first day of class of last semester (my first day as an FSU student!), I overheard my psychology professor discussing DIS opportunities with a student and immediately knew this was something I should participate in.

Beyond being a mere résumé booster, undergraduate research allows students to learn information about fields of interest that textbooks cannot touch on. Furthermore,

undergraduate research allows for students to effectively “shadow” faculty members and see what their work entails; if one were considering becoming a university professor, it would definitely be prudent to participate in a lab in order to see the type of day to day activities that professors complete. Although it was difficult to get accepted (most professors are not interested in training 1st year students with no meaningful experience to work in a lab; I emailed about 15 faculty members), I eventually found a cognitive psychology lab willing to let me volunteer. I worked in the lab for that entire semester (Fall of 2015), and this semester I am receiving DIS credit for my participation. Next semester I plan on starting an honors thesis in the same lab.
While I developed research experience prior to entering this class, the types of research discussed during the honors colloquium greatly expanded my understanding of available opportunities.

In the lecture about research, I learned about two programs in particular that are relevant to my goals as both a research and an aspiring graduate student: Global Scholars and the fellowships offered through the ONF. Being accepted into the Global Scholars program would effectively satisfy both my ambition to travel abroad and working in several types of research labs. Although the process certainly requires a high degree of commitment (entering the Global Scholars program requires taking a semester long course), I am genuinely thrilled about this opportunity to further improve my research skills while becoming more worldly. The ONF offers several fellowships relevant to my pursuit of different graduate school programs. Giving everything from generous financial rewards to truly unique experiences, the diverse variety of fellowships would make me a much better prepared applicant than I would be otherwise. Both of these programs empower me to shape my activities, both academic and extracurricular, here at FSU that I have never had access

to.
At this point in my life, research represents a critical aspect of who I am as a seminole. While I knew nothing about research before becoming an FSU student, the opportunities that I have been fortunate to experience already have molded my comprehension of and passion for conducting it. It is my hope that my future participation in research related programs discussed in the colloquium, such as the fellowships at ONF or the Global Scholars program, will continue to build on the quality foundation that my prior experiences have laid.