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URP Alumni Since 1959, the URP Program has been offering American and foreign undergraduate
students a unique opportunity to study with many of the world's most renowned
scientists. Some of our notable alumni include Dr. David Baltimore (current
President of California Institute of Technology), Dr. Gerry Rubin (UC Berkeley),
Dr. Alfred Goldberg (Harvard Medical School), Dr. Geraldine Seydoux (Johns
Hopkins), and Dr. Charles Gilbert (Rockefeller University). URP 2000 | URP 2001 | URP 2002 | URP 2003 | URP 2004 | URP 2005 | URP 2006 | URP 2007
What it's like to be an URP "I'm an URP." When I first arrived at Cold Spring Harbor, I wondered what that introduction meant and who could have possibly made up such a word. It's so guttural and lends itself to infinite mockery, puns and the like; I doubted that I would ever say it seriously. By the end of August, however, I not only introduced myself as an URP but was proud to do so for a few reasons. First, being an URP means real research. At Cold Spring Harbor, I finally got my head out of college textbooks and put my hands on the problems of a scientist. I had to deal with how to design an experiment, how to interpret data, and what to do when things got messy. Doesn't sound challenging? Well, I didn't think so until I had designed my own primers, run a PCR for the third time, and still couldn't find my DNA, or until I scoured cell after cell looking for one that had taken up my recombinant gene and lived to translate it. Second, the Undergraduate Research Program means real learning through interaction. Anyone can pick up a Nature article and read it, but can any undergraduate ask questions directly to its author or listen to her next seminar? CSHL draws amazing scientists to its lab and is a hotspot for talking about and doing great research, in particular during the summer months. I personally learned more from other scientists and URPs in ten weeks than I thought imaginable. Finally, URP equals hard work. Being a researcher means getting involved inyour experiment and making it work, even when that translates to long days and late nights. As my mentor pointed out, science is a profession where people work extraordinarily hard to obtain the simplest (and most elegant) of results. With diligence though, comes respect, and with some luck, results. And when I presented my findings at the URP symposium, I knew my hard work was worthwhile. So that's what why I can describe myself as a hiccup, URP, and still sleep comfortably at night. Ultimately it's what you make of it, but personally I recommend it to all interested in science that are willing to push themselves.
John D'Amore
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