The Ohio State University

April Jacobs
Class of 2006
Major: Earth Sciences

Before she became involved in research, the mere thought of it made April Jacobs cringe. But she has found it to be completely different from what she originally imagined. "Rubbing shoulders with graduate students, real scientists, and real-life projects has totally inspired me," Jacobs says. "To be honest, I hated chemistry my freshman year - now I do geochemistry and I really enjoy it. In other words, try something new. You might be surprised."

Her senior thesis project involved analyzing water from the Olentangy River for major anions and cations. Through this research assignment she has worked on many tasks, from data management, to website design, to elementary presentations, to analyzing hydrologic samples in Antarctica.

Jacobs landed her research position by asking a professor about job opportunities and says by the next week she was working at the Byrd Polar Research Center. "If you choose to get a job in research, future employers and graduate programs will notice that not only have you worked outside of school, but you have chosen to learn while doing it," she says.

Jacobs likes the feeling that what she's doing has worldwide significance. And she notes, "In the case of chemistry and Earth sciences, that working in the lab and in the field taught me more than sitting in class ever could on its own. But don't get me wrong, you need to go to class!"
 

Back to Undergraduate Student Research page