Research Jobs

A lot of Michigan students come in freshmen year as pre-med, pre-dental, or some sort of pre-health field. It is recommended as pre-health students that we participate in some sort of research position. The student employment website offers many jobs, work-study and not, for both undergraduate and graduate students.

I found my work-study job through the University student employment website. I applied to what seemed like hundreds of jobs and although the process was tedious, I ended up with a position that I was very happy with. My lab is in the Pediatric Genetics Department and is located in the Medical Science Research Building on the Medical Campus. Not all research positions are the same, but my job entails working with mice and investigating problems such as cancer and heart disease.

Most students don’t know just how large the animal facilities on campus are. There are unknown facilities that house large animals such as sheep and pigs, and there are smaller facilities on campus that house mice, rats, rabbits, and monkeys. The University of Michigan is known for its research aspects and there are hundreds to thousands of projects going on at the University at a given time. In 2010, the U of M Medical School earned more than $368.7 million in NIH research funding, a record-breaking amount.

Although the majority of my knowledge is in the medical school research, there are many different types of research across the University from software and computer research to immunology and microbiology. If you’re interested in some type of research position through the University, you should check out the student employment website, or if nothing appeals to you there, try talking to a professor or alumni about the different opportunities.