I'm taking this (i.e., officially enrolled in) independent research course which functions like any other class necessarily except that it's, well, independent and you can do the work you're assigned on your own time and you're graded based on an unofficial rubric.
I'm working with a Professor in the Pharmaceutical Chemistry department and his work is right up my alley. Contrary to the usual hard time undergraduates have garnering opportunities to work in research labs, this professor actually offered (without any nudging from me) me a position in his lab and his exact words were, and I quote "...if you're game for doing some experimental work in the Fall, we can discuss time commitment per week, who you'd be working with and what specific problems you'd be working on..." and even told me that since I'd be helping, I would be made a Co-author on this paper.
He then proceeded to send me an unpublished manuscript that he'd just send out for a peer-review, for me to read and formulate my thoughts on. Once I was done, I was to let him know and we could then schedule another meeting. This was on the 26th of March, 2021.
Up until this point, we'd been communicating on a semi-regular basis but not enough that I'd have a grasp on his emailing patterns. I reached back out to him on the 31st of March, telling him I was done with the paper and had my questions ready for whenever he would like to set up a meeting. I then sent him a follow-up email on the 2nd of April (a Friday)
Today is the 8th of April and it's been a week and he still hasn't gotten back to me. I do know that he was supposed to get his second shot of the vaccine on the 5th of April, but that still doesn't explain why he hasn't reached back out.
Obviously, I'm worried about the class I'm taking with him and the grade I'll be assigned, but more importantly, I really think this is a great opportunity and I'd love to work with him outside of taking this class and honestly, any thoughts anyone here has on why this is happening and whether I should be worried, let me know!
