Sharla Roberts, URAP Apprentice in Professor Randi Engle’s Research Group, Education

Please tell us about the project you are currently working on.

I am currently working with a professor in the education department to help design and carry out an experiment that will test some of her hypotheses on ways in which teachers can help kids more effectively apply what they have learned to other situations. We are investigating topics such as crediting authorship to students and framing learning situations as being valuable at various points in time. As a linguistics major, my main role in the project is to help design the dialogue in the experiment such that it involves the hypotheses we are trying to test. And, of course, I've been helping with other aspects of the project as well.

Can you describe a typical day in your life as an undergraduate researcher?

It's busy, like the days of most of the students here at Berkeley. I might be meeting with my professor to discuss some of our latest ideas on how to improve our experiment design. If I'm not specifically meeting with my professor, I might be reading papers to give us ideas of how to structure our project, or I could be brainstorming ways to get students to participate in our experiment. Doing work for this project doesn't take up all my free time; I can do it between doing homework and participating in other activities. It's been a great complement to all the other things that I usually do in my typical day.
What do you appreciate the most about this experience?

I really appreciate how involved I am able to be in the design of the experiment. When I applied to URAP, I just expected that I would be given various tasks by the professor to complete. I assumed that the project would already be set up by the professor and that I would just helping out with general things that the professor needed me to do. But I am actually really involved in the design of the experiment. It was great to have my own opinion valued; I felt like I was treated like one of the co-researchers as opposed to just an undergrad student who had never had any experience with research.

Is there anything that surprised you about doing research?

There's SO much work outside of just designing your experiment. I didn't realize how much time researchers put into writing grant proposals, setting up budgets, getting university approval and all the other outside things that need to be done for an experiment to go through. Setting up and designing an experiment is so much work on its own, and on top of that, there are so many logistical things that researchers need to do as well.

What advice would you give to prospective apprentices?

Participating in this program is one of the best things you can do as an undergrad here at Berkeley. It gives you an opportunity that you can't get through any of your classes. Make an effort to get as involved as possible in your project, the more you contribute, the better experience you will have. Also, consider looking at projects outside of your major. My project was not in the department of my major but I really enjoyed learning about another subject that I otherwise would not have taken a course in.