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Graduate research student resume examples from 2025

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Updated March 26, 2025
6 min read
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How to write a graduate research student resume

Craft a resume summary statement

A well-written resume summary is basically an elevator pitch. You are summing up your skills and experience in a few sentences to wow recruiters, hiring managers, and decision makers into giving you an interview. Here are some tips to putting your best foot first with your resume summary:

Step 1: Mention your current job title or the role you're pursuing.

Step 2: Include your years of experience in graduate research student-related roles. Consider adding relevant company and industry experience as relevant to the job listing.

Step 3: Highlight your greatest accomplishments. Here is your chance to make sure your biggest wins aren't buried in your resume.

Step 4: Again, keep it short. Your goal is to summarize your experience and highlight your accomplishments, not write a paragraph.

These tips will help you demonstrate why you are the perfect fit for the graduate research student position.

Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.

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List the right project manager skills

Many resumes are filtered out by hiring software before a human eye ever sees them. A robust Skills section can let recruiters (and bots) know you have the skills to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section:

  1. You often need to include the exact keywords from the job description in your resume. Look at the job listing and consider which of the listed skills you have experience with, along with related skills.
  2. Include as many relevant hard skills and soft skills as possible from the listing.
  3. Use the most up to date and accurate terms. Don't forget to be specific.
These five steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some graduate research student interviews.

Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a graduate research student resume:

  • Lab Equipment
  • Laboratory Equipment
  • Python
  • C++
  • Chemistry
  • Cell Culture
  • R
  • Data Analysis
  • Analyze Data
  • Research Student
  • Molecular Biology
  • Protein Purification
  • Data Collection
  • RT-PCR
  • Synthesis
  • DNA
  • Symposium
  • Research Data
  • GEL Electrophoresis
  • Literature Reviews
  • Poster Presentation
  • Electrophoresis
  • SPSS
  • Statistical Analysis
  • GPA
  • SAS
  • Conduct Research
  • RNA
  • Research Paper
  • Research Findings

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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How to structure your work experience

Your work experience should be structured:

  1. With your most recent roles first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order.
  2. Job title, along with company name and location on the left.
  3. Put the corresponding dates of employment on the left side.
  4. Keep only relevant jobs on your work experience.

How to write graduate research student experience bullet points

Effective job bullet points do more than just describe your job duties. Instead, they should be specific and measurable accomplishments. Here are some strategies to mastering job bullet points:

  • Use strong action verbs like Led, Built, or Optimized.
  • Follow up with numbers when possible to support your results. How much did performance improve? How much revenue did you drive?
  • Wrap it up by explaining the actions you took to achieve the result and how you made an impact.

Here are effective examples from graduate research student resumes:

Work history example #1

Student Research Assistant

iSi Gruppe / Pochtler Industrieholding

  • Used microscopy staining techniques to examine dynamics of host-fungal interactions.
  • Developed tools to automate the discovery and analysis of mobile device vulnerabilities using Python, C, and mobile developer applications.
  • Worked under the guidance of analytical chemistry professor in R&D laboratory.
  • Assisted new lab members in troubleshooting and optimizing their experimental procedures.
  • Characterized number of voids in materials from x-ray data using Computational Homology, a computational topology technique.

Work history example #2

Laboratory Research Assistant

University of Massachusetts Lowell

  • Designed a mask for the 3-Omega sensor by using AutoCAD.
  • Performed wet chemistry methods including titrations and pH, color and moisture testing Collection and submission samples.
  • Analyzed research study results and prepared reports for publication; assisted in developing research protocols.
  • Presented science abstracts at national and international conferences
  • Initiated the use of the Internet resources for data analyzing purpose.

Work history example #3

Graduate Research Student

Merck & Co.

  • Raised over $9,000 for Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk as captain of Merck team.
  • Served as departmental safety representative, area safety committee chair, and division safety committee member.
  • Experienced in both GLP and Non-GLP laboratories Experienced with both in vivo and in vitro animal models.
  • Partnered with Merck s External Research Dept.
  • Coordinated batch processing activities of two process supervisors and nine chemical operators.

Work history example #4

Summer Research Fellow

Fayetteville State University

  • Coordinated efforts between federal, private and local agencies/industries for collection of samples at contaminated sites.
  • Assisted a PhD student in facilitating a systematic review on the subject of cognitive reserve.
  • Performed various experimental assays, collecting and analyzing data for Principal Investigator Grant R. Wilkinson PhD.
  • Initiated and participated in the re-establishment of the department s biology symposium.
  • Consulted and collaborated on projects in Computer Science, Architecture & Engineering, Public Health, and Visual Arts.

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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Add an education section to your resume

Here is the best way to format your education section:

  • Display your highest degree first.
  • If you graduated over 5 years ago, put this section at the bottom of your resume. If you lack relevant work experience, the education section should go to the top.
  • If you have a bachelor's or master's degree, do not list your high school education.
  • If your graduation year is more than 15-20 years ago, it's better not to include dates in this section.

Here are some examples of good education entries from graduate research student resumes:

Master's Degree in biology

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ

2018 - 2019

Master's Degree in biology

Texas A&M University San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

2006 - 2007

Highlight your graduate research student certifications on your resume

Certifications are a great way to showcase special expertise or niche skills. Some jobs even require certifications to be hired.

To list, use the full name of the certification and the organization that issued it, along with the date of achievement.

If you have any of these certifications, be sure to include them on your graduate research student resume:

  1. Clinical Research Assistant
  2. Professional Researcher Certification (PRC)

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