Research Lessons are Life Lessons

Karis Pressler

06-05-2025

Twenty-one years ago, I stood in a Swiss phone booth and cried on the phone to my mom about my research dilemma. For my master’s thesis in applied sociology, I was invited to stay at a rehabilitation clinic in Switzerland for three weeks to observe and document the Swiss approach to comprehensive physical rehabilitation. But there was a problem. I didn’t speak Swiss German, and the patients I needed to interview didn’t speak English.

While in the phone booth, I wanted to admit defeat and leave. But after verbalizing my fears, a sudden calm emerged, and I knew what I needed to do. “I am going to find a way to connect with English-speaking staff who can help translate patient interviews,” I said aloud. Having found fresh resolve, I emerged from the phone booth with clarity and direction, and the next day met with several clinic staff who said they’d be happy to assist with interview translation.

Last month, I finished my second year directing the Purdue University Research Center in Economics’ (PURCE) Undergraduate Research Assistantship (UGRA) program, where I mentored 12 undergraduate research assistants who were paired with 10 economics professors and PURCE faculty affiliates to assist with research tasks. Having experienced the dizzying highs, lows, twists and turns of research, I find great joy in helping undergraduate students navigate this rocky terrain. My goal in the PURCE UGRA program is to support students as they push through complex and tedious research tasks so they can persevere even when frustrating moments, similar to my phone booth moment, appear.

The 2024-2025 PURCE UGRA cohort often heard me declare the following phrases that originate from my own research experiences. My hope is that through the PURCE UGRA program, students will discover their own research truths that can be applied when stepping into their professional roles after graduating from Purdue and navigating the unknown.

1. Dive in and try: Some students will make excuses for not starting a research task. I reason by telling them that research isn’t supposed to be easy, and the only way to make progress is to put in the time and try. There is no way but through. Start small, start somewhere, find your flow and keep showing up.
2. Zoom out: In my Daniels School office hangs a photo taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft as it soared between Saturn’s rings in 2013 and snapped a picture of distant Earth. When students feel daunted by a research task, I encourage them to zoom out, shift perspective, reframe, remain open to possibility and then zoom back in.
3. Keep learning, keep growing: The biggest lesson I learned during my PhD is that research is supposed to be a humbling endeavor that should uncover just as many questions as it does answers. I encourage students, industry professionals, business leaders — all lifelong learners — to always ask questions, remain curious, wonder and to never ever stop learning and growing.