Department of Biology

Sir William Bragg
 

The RISE program is designed to allow students to have an opportunity to delve deeply into a research project over the course of a year. Students will develop a research project in conjunction with a faculty member mentor and will work on it over the course of the senior year. Mentors can be a member of the Department of Biology, or they can be a faculty member from another department (such as faculty from the Medical Center) or from another institution (such as the NIH or Smithsonian) with a Biology faculty member as a co-mentor. Research projects can be performed in the laboratory, in the field, in the classroom, on computers, or in conjunction with an internship.

Many RISE projects are continuations of tutorial research projects, and some faculty will require this. The credits for RISE will be 3-cr in both the fall and spring terms.

RISE replaces our long-running Senior Theses, retaining the best elements - such as student-centered research projects and direct interactions with faculty and their lab members - while expanding the program to allow a broader range of experiences. Additionally the expected student products have shifted from a written thesis to written manuscripts and posters, both of which are more commonly encountered in professional scientific settings.  We anticipate that students will be able to publish their findings in manuscripts from the labs, provided that the data are of high quality. 

For more information on:

• Finding a Mentor
• Expectations
• Timeline during senior year
• RISE syllabus