I am an undergrad who worked at a computer vision related lab. The lab I used to work at raised some red flags by saying that even if I contributed, my name could not be on the paper. I also transferred schools, so I left. The problem is, I have this potentially great research idea that I'd like to test. I still have the data (a one hour video) and was either a. going to ask if I could use it for solo research, of course crediting them b. try to find a new professor at my school to supervise me.
I decided I want to find another professor to supervise me, cause I have never written a paper before and this is kind of a big project. I have been reading papers and research this for 5 months now, and I have never seen my idea done before. It basically takes something from a different area of the field and applies it to the research area I am interested in. I have seen it tried before, but not in the exact way I plan on doing it. My concern is, what if I email professors about this and they steal me idea? Sure, if your ethical you won't, but could that happen? I want to email this professor with my idea, and ask if has any data / ways I can explore this at their lab. What if he says no and runs with my idea? either way, I am hoping he can offer me some perspective, but even if he says no he can be wrong - and isn't that the point of research to explore things that may not work? Another reason I want to work with him is because all though there is another professor who would be able to help, he publishes a lot in IEEE and Civil engineering journals. I am trying to get noticed by the AI/ML and deep learning community, and that is where this other professor mostly publishes in. Would it be bad to ask him if he knows of any professors I can work with, if my idea doesn't suit his lab?