This is designed to give you suggestions of how you might combine research activities over four years of college and can be adapted for any discipline.
Freshman year
Fall semester
- Enter Mizzou and begin course work.
- Discuss research interests with academic adviser and course instructors.
- Begin a part-time job taking care of research plants in a greenhouse on campus.
Spring semester
- Continue part-time job, but increase responsibilities by extracting DNA from plant tissue samples.
- Interview faculty members of interest to look for a summer job on campus and find out what opportunities might be available at home.
- Attend faculty research seminars and the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum to get more ideas.
Summer semester
- Enroll in a summer school class at MU and work 20 hours a week maintaining a colony of transgenic mice.
Sophomore year
Fall and spring semesters
- Continue to attend faculty research seminars and campus poster sessions.
- Join a research lab studying stem cells and neurodegenerative diseases. Attend weekly lab meetings to learn more about the ongoing research projects in your lab.
- Early during the winter semester, prepare research internship applications to receive funding for the summer and next academic year.
- Help a graduate student prepare his or her poster for the Life Sciences Week poster session.
Summer semester
- Conduct your first independent research project full time during the summer with your Mizzou faculty mentor.
- Present your work at the Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum.
Junior year
Fall and spring semesters
- Continue project with new cell line and receive funding for academic year.
- Begin to search for summer programs at other universities and medical centers, and apply in January or February.
- Begin to explore graduate programs in neurobiology using the web and faculty contacts you’ve made.
- Outline project for senior thesis.
- Prepare abstract for submission to the Society of Neurosciences.
- Study for and take the GRE exam.
- Present your project at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum.
Summer semester
- Participate in summer research program at CalTech in Pasadena, Calif.
- Network with faculty at CalTech and contact your mentor’s roommate from graduate school.
- Narrow down graduate school options and collect application materials.
Senior year
Fall and spring semesters
- Register for senior capstone credit for your research.
- Continue gathering data and analyzing results, and work with faculty mentor and graduate student to plan for research publication.
- Attend Society of Neurosciences national meeting to present your research, and talk with faculty from universities with strong graduate programs in neurobiology.
- Put together application materials for graduate school and mail applications during winter break.
- Apply for national graduate fellowship awards.
- Serve as an undergraduate teaching assistant in your faculty mentor’s lab course.
- Interview at graduate schools and make a decision on which offer to accept.
Graduation
- Participate in Honors Convocation with your mentor by your side.
- Find out that your publication has been accepted with only minor revisions.
- Go out for a final lunch with your lab mates and mentor.
- Pack up your belongings and prepare for the next phase of your career!