Take on challenging research, starting in your first year.
Do you want to enter the world of scientific research and get connected with top scholars and industry leaders who are actively researching? Help develop technologies to fight cancer? Explore new frontiers in solar energy? Design new medical devices? Whatever your research interest, the Research Scholars program will equip you to succeed.
With the guidance of top faculty members, you’ll master research methods and apply your knowledge in the lab and the field.
First, Learn the Basics
A first-year course (the First-Year Success Seminar/UNIV 104) connects you with like-minded students, helps you clarify your goals, enhances your professional communication skills, and prepares you for cutting-edge research. You’ll learn how to gather data, develop and test hypotheses, follow lab procedures, and more. You can hit the ground running when you start working on real-world research projects.
Then, Delve into Your Field of Interest
You can begin participating in faculty research as early as the spring semester of your freshman year. You’ll have the opportunity to participate in research projects directly related to your discipline:
- Bioengineering
- Biological Sciences (Biology and Zoology)
- Chemistry
- Molecular Biosciences (Biochemistry, Genetics and Cell Biology, and Microbiology)
- Neuroscience
- Physics
The skills you build will help you throughout your career. You may conduct and even publish noteworthy research before earning your bachelor’s degree. You’ll build one-to-one working relationships with faculty members, enabling those mentors to write stronger letters of recommendation for you later whether you’re headed to graduate school or a career position.
Why Undergraduate Research?
Being involved in undergraduate research makes you more prepared for a career in science or engineering because the experience helps you:
- Strengthen your critical- and creative-thinking skills.
- Learn professional communication skills.
- Apply what you have learned in classrooms to real-life situations and problems
- Gain valuable team and leadership experience by working as part of a team with faculty, post-doctoral scientists, graduate students, and other undergraduates.
- Build one-to-one relationships with faculty by collaborating on projects.
- Develop as a professional in your field.
- Enhance your competitiveness for prestigious, nationally competitive awards that fund education and experiences, such as Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships.