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The CCRA blog is authored by Columbia undergraduate researchers, who are invited to reflect on all aspects of the research process and their own undergraduate research experiences, beginning (but not ending) with the Core.
Category Archives: STEM research
An Interview About Undergraduate Math Research
For this blog post, I interviewed Cat R., one of my friends from high school, who is currently studying pure math and has been involved in a long-term research project for the past 6 months. Sara: Introduce yourself! What type … Continue reading
Posted in COVID-19, STEM research, Summer Research
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Changing Tracks: Why Transfer Internally?
The joke goes like this: by the time I graduate, I’ll have gone to all four undergraduate schools. Now that I’ve gone through the first three, having originally enrolled in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), transferred to … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Libraries, Senior Thesis, STEM research, The Core
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Scared of the Core Because You’re not a Humanities Person?
A professor recently asked me if, when I was applying to Columbia as a prospective math major, the Core scared me. His assumption, a common one, was that as someone who prefers math and science, the idea of committing a … Continue reading
Posted in courses, STEM research, The Core
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It’s Okay to be Scared of Office Hours!
I am not the type of student who goes to office hours every week. I’m eternally jealous of my friends who are able to just go chat with their professors about anything and everything, but maybe I’m too scared, maybe … Continue reading
Posted in Faculty Mentors, STEM research
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Why am I writing a thesis?
Recently, I’ve found myself pondering the question: Why am I writing a thesis? Now, I don’t think that there’s any specific right or wrong answer to this question. For some, writing a thesis is a natural extension of a project … Continue reading
Posted in New York City, Senior Thesis, STEM research, Uncategorized
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Making the Most of Meeting Professors
At the end of September I had to choose a “second reader” for my thesis. In the History department, all students writing a thesis attend a year-long thesis seminar course. In addition to the professor for this course, who leads … Continue reading
Posted in Faculty Mentors, Senior Thesis, STEM research, Uncategorized
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On The “STEM/Humanities Divide” And Getting Messy
I spent the longest summer of my adolescence in the company of more fish than people. There were mosquitofish, bass, alewife, three-spined stickleback, guppy, herring; fish that had been preserved since 2013 and fish that were euthanized early that morning; … Continue reading
Posted in STEM research, Summer Research, Uncategorized
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The Dreaded Cold-Email
So you need to cold-email a professor. Perhaps it’s someone you’ve had a large lecture with but never spoken to one-on-one, or someone you’ve been directed to by another professor—or maybe it’s someone you’ve truly never met. I’ve sent a … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Faculty Mentors, STEM research, Uncategorized
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A Researcher Without Research to Do
A couple of weeks ago, I heard a mom shriek from my living room and ran to see my mom standing on top of a chair, pointing at a mouse scurrying across the floor. I shrieked and quickly climbed on … Continue reading
Posted in COVID-19, STEM research, Summer Research
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Finding the Intersections in All Subjects
The summer before I got to Columbia as a freshman, I decided that I wanted to go to medical school. Looking back, the nine seasons of Grey’s Anatomy I watched that summer played no small part in that decision—Patrick Dempsey’s … Continue reading
Posted in STEM research, The Core, Uncategorized
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