How do I get involved? How do I contact researchers?
- Search: Using the search form at the top of this page (or to the left under "search for research experiences"), find researchers working in areas you find interesting. Using the search bar at the top of the page, you can search for researchers who are interested in having research assistants. You can enter keywords into the search box, such as cognitive development, animal behavior, social work, alcoholism, etc., or you can search by researcher name or by department. Additionally, you may select a specific college you would like results limited to.
- Contact: The search results provide information about individual researchers and their contact information.
- Email Webform: Under each researcher profile brought up by a search is a link to a webform which you may use to contact the researcher. Follow the link and fill out the form. Clicking "Submit" will generate an email which will be sent to the researcher you are attempting to contact, containing all the information you provided in the form. For your own records, a copy of the email will be sent to your uic.edu email address as well.
- Wait for responses: Don't get discouraged if a researcher does not write back immediately. Just send your email message again or, better yet, phone or go see the researcher during his or her office hours. If the researcher is interested, he or she will most likely ask for an interview with you. Be prepared to explain why you want to be a research assistant and why you are interested in that person's project.
- Understand Expectations: If the researcher accepts you as a research assistant, make sure that you clearly understand his or her expectations to avoid any misunderstandings.