In senior lab, you are given the opportunity to develop a new experiment or research project over the entire semester. Topics are determined by a discussion with your instructors, with other faculty who are willing to assist you in specialized areas, and availability of resources. Often, senior lab projects are precursors to experiments that we ultimately want to offer in junior lab. However, senior lab projects can also be related to research that you are doing with a faculty member, as long as there is a clearly defined experimental goal that is achievable within a single semester.

Since senior lab projects tend to be exploratory, you are encouraged to work out with your instructor(s) some “fall-back” positions in case certain parts of the project don’t work as planned. It is a good lesson to learn how to make mid-course corrections that ensure that you still get useful results by the end of the semester.