Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Students

• Research opportunities on campus
• Locating a faculty mentor
• Financial support for your undergraduate research
• Off-campus research and internship opportunities

Undergraduate students have many opportunities to participate in research under the supervision of a faculty member.  Formal on-campus undergraduate research programs include:

• The Maryland Student Researchers Program introduces students to scholarly research, allowing them to spend 4-6 hours per week working under the direction of a faculty mentor on that faculty member's own research.  At the conclusion of the assistantship, the student receives a notation on their transcript.  No academic credit or grade is earned.
• The Rollinson Fellowship Initiative serves as a means of introducing first year chemistry and biochemistry majors to research opportunities in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. Students are matched with a faculty mentor and conduct an independent research project during the second semester of their freshman year.
• Academic credit for research activity (CHEM 399, BSCI 379, BSCI 389, BSCI 399) is determined by the departmental affiliation of the faculty mentor.  Students can apply up to 3 research credits toward the upper-level requirements for their degree.  For more information about obtaining academic credit for your research, contact the Coordinating Advisor in the department to which your faculty mentor belongs.  To verify the applicability of research credit toward your degree, consult your academic advisor.
• Departmental Honors programs are offered in each department in the College of Chemical & Life Sciences.  These are typically four semester programs, with students applying in the spring of their sophomore year or fall of their junior year.  Students work under the supervision of a faculty mentor to design and carry out an independent research project, which culminates in a formal defense of the research.  Students receive academic credit for their research that can be applied toward their degree requirements, participate in honors seminars and, upon completion of the program, graduate "With Honors".  For additional information and application instructions, contact the appropriate Departmental Honors Program Director.

In addition to these programs, students may make informal arrangements to work in a faculty member's lab on a volunteer basis.  In order to benefit maximally from the experience it is best to commit to your chosen lab for at least two semesters.
 
 

Finding a suitable research experience takes some work on your part. The first step is to identify faculty members who are doing research that is consistent with your own intellectual interests.  The best and most up-to-date source of information about faculty interests is the College of Chemical & Life Sciences web site.  Here you can browse through descriptions of each faculty member's research and find citations for their most recent professional publications.  Once you have identified several potential mentors, the next step is to contact them (email is usually best) to determine whether they are interested in having you join their research program.  In your first contact with potential faculty mentors, you should indicate your year (e.g., sophomore), your GPA, any relevant research or laboratory experience you already have and your general research interests or goals.  You should plan to meet with each potential faculty mentor in person, tour their lab and speak to other students in the lab (both graduate and undergraduate) before making a final decision.  After you have decided upon which research opportunity is best for you, it is a good idea make an explicit agreement with your mentor regarding how much time you will spend in the lab, the times you will work, and what your responsibilities will consist of.  If you wish to receive academic credit for your work, you should then contact the Coordinating Advisor in the Department to which your faculty mentor belongs. 
 
 

Some students receive compensation for their undergraduate research through faculty research grants or federal work-study programs.  In many cases, however, students volunteer their time or receive academic credit.  Financial support for undergraduate research is available from several sources and may include a stipend and funds for research-related supplies and travel.

• The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program provides a stipend of $5000 per year and $1500 in research supply funds to students conducting faculty-mentored research in any area of the life sciences. Up to 60 awards are made each year.
• The Rollinson Fellowship Initiative provides a $500 tuition allowance and $300 in research supply funds to second semester chemistry and biochemistry majors engaged in faculty-mentored research in any area of chemistry and biochemistry. Eight awards are made each year.
• The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program offers a $2800 summer research stipend, room and board and professional development workshops.
• The Senior Summer Scholars program provides a $3000 stipend for rising seniors engaged in undergraduate research.
• The Honors Research Grant, sponsored by the University Honors Program, consists of a $500 award that can be used for to defray research expenses of students enrolled in Departmental Honors programs.

The Washington D.C. metropolitan area is the site of one of the world's largest concentrations of biomedical and biotechnology research.  Our students benefit from our geographic location by gaining the opportunity to participate in research internships at federal research centers (National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Smithsonian Institution), research hospitals (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, National Children's Medical Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Naval Medical Research Center) and biotechnology firms (The Institute for Genomic Research, Human Genome Sciences, Digene, MedImmune).  Students in the College of Chemical & Life Sciences also have the unique opportunity to work under the guidance of U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists through the JIFSAN internship program. Students can do internships during an academic semester or summer, and internships are often renewable for multiple semesters.  The College of Chemical & Life Sciences internship web site contains many resources for helping students find internships. Listings of currently available internships are sent out via LifeLink, posted on our Job and Internship Announcements web page and kept in the Information Resource Center, 1317 Symons Hall.

Some internships offer a stipend or hourly wage, while others are unpaid.  In some cases, if the internship has a strong academic component, it is possible to earn academic credit for an internship experience.  For more information about getting academic credit for an internship, consult the Peer Mentors or your academic advisor.  Contracts for BSCI 289, the off-campus internship course, are available online and in the Information Resource Center, 1317 Symons Hall.