Welcome to Research Ruminations!

Welcome to Research Ruminations! The staff at Aleph are very excited to bring this project to life and we hope you will find this blog useful. 

Research Ruminations was founded upon one principle: to demystify the research process. As undergraduates at UCLA, one common purpose drew us to Aleph: we all love research! Uniting us was a burning curiosity about the world and its many unanswered questions. Academia allows one to consider the unknown and to stumble across answers waiting to be found. As researchers, we write pieces that could potentially change the way society perceives the world. Like a kaleidoscope, the academic dialogue constantly alters and shifts as new perspectives are formulated and discussed. Aleph is a place that contains all the above and has brought genuine change to UCLA’s campus.  

However, as we talked about our experiences with finding, writing, and conducting research, our stories drew out venting sessions filled with highs and lows. We bonded over the difficulties of finding research projects against UCLA’s complex ecosystem. We also laughed about our awkward experiences and shared moments of joy when we reached a breakthrough in our own work. 

Our cumulative experiences helped us realize that UCLA was missing these conversations. Conducting research is often a lonely process. We wanted to create a place that would help to illuminate the road to publishing research. Furthermore, the path to conducting research varies per year and major at UCLA. Each person’s journey to their project and their work itself is unique. Research Ruminations is the culmination of all these intricacies and discussions. Through cataloging these conversations, we hope to provide solace, inspiration, or hope to our readers. 

Stay tuned for more conversations with undergraduate researchers, Ph.D. students, professors, and administrators here at UCLA. We hope you enjoy!