need to take part in applied research

Could you define applied research in this context? I thought that this meant research that had been applied - so any evidence based care you deliver would be ok, but may be you mean something else? Sorry, I'm from the UK and sometimes things are different here to the USA...

Using this definition, I would say any nursing research is applied research then. It might be useful to find out what research is happening in your area and see if you can get involved - it depends on what course you are studying - for anything before a master's degree I'd say get involved with someone else's research as getting your own approved by the ethical committees and various approval processes can take quite some time!

Is there anything that your college nursing department is involved in or your local hospital that might be suitable?

Good luck