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Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Undergraduate students in the Department of Biology are highly encouraged to participate in research projects and opportunities abound!  Involvement in research provides a different type of training than experiences in the classroom. These opportunities can be important in defining future career goals and in pursuing certain career tracks or advanced education.  Undergraduate research can be on a volunteer basis or to earn credit towards a degree by registering for Biology 4905

If you are interested in undergraduate research:

• Identify potential faculty members who do research in areas that are interesting to you and appropriate to your background.  Look through our faculty research at http://www.umsl.edu/~biology/faculty/faculty-index.html. 
• Make contact with the faculty member of your choice.  Describe your background and future plans.  Ask about available positions.  Be sure to mention why you picked this lab. 
• If the first option doesn’t work out, try again – we have lots of labs in the department with lots of projects.  Keep in mind, labs may be full, so plan ahead – if you are interested in doing research in a specific semester or over the summer, especially for credit, ask early.

Undergraduates who participate in Biology 4905 are expected to spend ~7.5 hours per week in the lab, maintain a lab notebook describing the research protocols and results, and complete a final project.  Depending on the lab, this project might be a written research report, an oral presentation in a lab meeting, or a poster presentation during the Undergraduate Research Symposium. 



Mike Boyher (BS Biology, expected 2010) working at a field plot.  Mike is doing undergraduate research in the Zanne lab.

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Jacqueline Gabbert (BS Biology, 2009) and Bethany Zolman pose by Jacqueline’s poster at the Undergraduate Research Symposium.  Many undergraduates are able to present their research at local symposia and national meetings.