Click on the links below to check the requirements for being eligible to enroll in and receive credits for BILD 99 and BISP 199.

BILD 99: Independent Research

BISP 199: Individual Research for Undergraduates

Establish a connection with the faculty member whose laboratory you would be planning to work in. In preparation, you should gather as much knowledge about the laboratory and the research conducted there as possible. You may use their website if available and consult publications from the research of the lab.

1. 1. You may approach faculty members whose courses you have taken. To get to know faculty members, show up to their office hours with questions, join smaller group sessions if such exist, and participate in class interactions.
   2. Note that general and unspecific emails to many faculty members are unlikely to yield results. In your contact with the faculty member you would like to work with, be specific as to why you are interested in their lab and their work.
   3. In your communication with the faculty member, use professional language, and fully edit your email and other documents you might be sharing. It’s always a good idea to have someone with excellent writing skills to edit and review before sending anything. The Writing Hub is also a great place to get assistance in editing and review.
   4. It is to your benefit to put more efforts into proposals for three labs that are detailed, specific, and well-edited, than sending generic proposals to ten labs. Note that your proposal does not need to be fully developed here, but the faculty member should be able to clearly understand what the topic is, why you are interested, and the basic of how you will investigate the topic.
   5. Do not write the email like you would write a text or other informal online comment/post. Avoid “hey”, emojis, incomplete sentences or abbreviated words.
   6. Faculty are often busy and may not be able to reply to your email. In this case, you may try to see them during office hours.

• A faculty member will need availability in their lab for an independent research student and your proposed research will also need to fit within the general area of research of the lab. When a faculty member has agreed to work with you, you will work with them to further develop the details of the research proposal. Use the Questions for Specialized Studies to consider what to include in preparing your research proposal for application. This form is not exhaustive but a good starting point.

• Submit the student part of the application through EASy Request . Submit early!
• Follow-up with the faculty member so they are aware you submitted your part and they can submit their part.