What Undergraduate Reserach is Like

I’m typing this in a 6 x 8 foot cell, half of which is taken up by a noisy fume hood. I’m sitting on a small black stool (the kind with no back), with my laptop on my lap. To the left of me is that giant noisy fume hood, with tons of chemicals, heating plates, and experiments inside. In front of me is a giant tank of nitrogen the size of a 5^th grader, as well as a very complicated-looking microscope. To the right, there’s a little desk cluttered with fancy gadgets and tools. There are a few lab coats lying around, and a vacuum cleaner as well. The entire room is orange because of these smelly plastic curtains they put in the room. Every 4 minutes or so a little window pops up on my screen, indicating I’ve completed yet another data run. So, I reset my experiment, put my data in an excel chart, and start all over. This experiment manages to keep my happily half busy like this for several hours each day. So that’s what research is all about.