Application: The online application for Undergraduate Research should be filled out with the help of your research mentor (and BMB Program faculty sponsor if applicable). Your research mentor (and sponsor, if applicable) must electronically approve your submitted application. After review and approval by the Chair of the BMB Research and Honors Committee, you will be registered for the research course indicated in your application and you will receive an email confirmation.
Research: Research projects must involve laboratory research appropriate to the BMB degree. During the academic year, you are expected to devote a minimum of four (4) hours/week per credit to the project. During either summer term, you are expected to devote a minimum of eight (8) hours/week per credit. Other research-related obligations like lab meetings may count towards this time commitment. Please note: you are not permitted to be paid (e.g., through UROP) and receive academic credit at the same time.
BMB Faculty Mentor/Sponsor: To find a BMB faculty research mentor, you can review and contact faculty listed on the BMB website, ask your assigned academic advisor for suggestions, or talk with TFs in your courses. If you find a research mentor outside of the BMB Program, you and your mentor must identify a BMB faculty member with related research interests to serve as your sponsor and liaison between the BMB Program and your outside mentor. You are expected to meet with your BMB faculty mentor/sponsor on a regular basis during the semester (at least 2-3 times) to discuss expectations, your research progress, and any issues or questions that you may have regarding your research experience.
Grading: Your research mentor (and sponsor, if applicable) should outline the grading requirements with you before the semester starts. At the end of the semester, your BMB faculty mentor will assign your grade (if working in an outside lab, your BMB sponsor will consult your outside research mentor before assigning the grade).
HUB requirements: Students earn general education credit (Hub units) while performing Undergraduate Research. The Hub units earned will build with each continuing semester or research. The specific Hub units are described separately for each course.
Responsibilities of All Research Mentors:
After agreeing to provide time and space in your laboratory, you should meet with the student prior to submitting the application to discuss your expectations for doing the particular level of Undergraduate Research in your laboratory. This includes making it clear that the student must be an intellectually engaged contributor to the research project and not simply perform the tasks of a work-study student or a technician. In addition, be sure the student understands all his/her responsibilities for completing the application and devoting sufficient time each week to the research (4 hours per week per credit in fall/spring and 8 hours per week per credit in summer). You should also establish any grading requirements before each semester. After the student begins working in your lab, you should make yourself aware of and respect the student’s other academic commitments by requiring no more than a weekly fall/spring average of 8 hours for two credits or 16 hours for four credits (in a summer session, the weekly average would be 16-18 hours for two credits or 32-36 hours for four credits). Research mentors are in a position of authority and students may feel hesitant to speak up if they are feeling overloaded with the number of research hours they are asked to put in.
Explain to the student that he/she cannot receive financial funds (e.g., through grants, internships, UROP, etc.) and earn BMB-degree credit at the same time while performing this Undergraduate Research.
Work with the student to complete the online application for Undergraduate Research. The application will differ depending on the semesters of prior research experience, but will minimally require a title and abstract. As experience increases, the application could include a well-cited scholarly background, the hypothesis(es) being tested, a brief description of the experimental plan, specific aims, and any other relevant features of the project (see online application for examples). Most will also include a list of cited sources. The application should be written in the student’s own hand (not a copy of your recent grant proposal), and should end with an annotated list of references for the entire research proposal (i.e., not just a bibliography). You are expected to review and modify several drafts of the student’s proposal, and to approve the final version during the online submission process (see next).
Once the student has submitted the proposal online, you will get an email containing the submitted proposal and a link to an approval/resubmit page. Review the student’s application, and on the approval form, provide additional information on the nature of the student’s research in your lab. At the end of the approval form, you can either suggest edits or electronically approve the student’s application. This is a timely process and the student needs the student to register for the course before the ADD deadline each semester.
Throughout the semester, you and the student should have frequent individual discussions regarding the research project(s) (at least once a week). Additionally, you should support the student in completing any Hub-related requirements of their research work. These requirements are detailed specific to each course.
The mentor is responsible for assessing their student’s work including their proposal prior to submissions, as noted above; work in the lab; and assessments related to Hub units such as reviewing lab notebooks, lab reports, and presentations, if any such assessments are applicable.
Additional Responsibilities for Outside Research Mentors (not in the BMB Program):
Communicate with the BMB Program faculty sponsor on the BU Charles River Campus to review expectations of the research mentor. Importantly, this includes the requirements for general education credit (Hub units) detailed in the last section below.
Communication with the BMB Program faculty sponsor in the event of any problems or conflicts.
Contact the BMB Program faculty sponsor prior to the end of the semester to discuss the student’s grade, which will be submitted to BU by the BMB Program faculty sponsor.
Responsibilities of the BMB Program Faculty Sponsor (applicable when student’s research is conducted outside the BMB Program):
After agreeing to sponsor a student to perform research outside of the BMB Program, you should meet with the student prior to submitting the application to discuss your expectations for doing Undergraduate Research, including these guidelines. This includes making it clear that the student must be an intellectually engaged contributor to the research project and not simply perform the tasks of a work-study student or a technician. In addition, be sure the student understands all of his/her responsibilities for completing the application and devoting sufficient time each week to the research (4 hours per week per credit in fall/spring and 8 hours per week per credit in summer) and satisfying grading requirements, including the general education requirements detailed in last section below. As a research sponsor, you should periodically have discussions with the outside mentor during the semester.
Explain to the student that he/she cannot receive financial funds (e.g., through UROP) and also degree credit at the same time while performing Undergraduate Research.
Electronically approve the student’s application in time for the student to register for the course.
Communicate with the outside mentor to verify that they understand the expectations for the student and the requirements for receiving BU credit, particularly with respect to the student’s time commitment. Research mentors should not be requiring more than a weekly fall/spring average of 8 hours for two credits or 16 hours for four credits (in a summer session, the weekly average would be 16-18 hours for two credits or 32-36 hours for four credits). Research mentors are in a position of authority and students may feel hesitant to speak up if they are feeling overloaded with the number of research hours they are asked to put in. It is important to emphasize that our undergraduates should not be expected to contribute time and effort equivalent to a graduate student, nor should they be left to simply perform technical tasks without active mentorship. This responsibility is particularly important in situations in which the research mentor may not be familiar with the needs of students on an undergraduate campus or has not had previous experience mentoring undergraduates in research. Faculty sponsors should also provide support for outside mentors in earning the Hub units associated with each course.
Develop a plan with the outside mentor for determining the student’s final grade. The grading mechanism is flexible, but should be agreed upon by both the mentor and the sponsor prior to or shortly after the start of the semester. The faculty sponsor then informs the student of the grading requirements in an email that is copied to the outside mentor so that there is no ambiguity regarding the expectations of the student. The faculty sponsor must also contact the outside mentor at the end of the semester to determine the student’s grade. The outside mentor generally suggests a grade, but may consult with the faculty sponsor if so desired. An unusual grade (B- or lower) should be discussed with the outside mentor to confirm that the grading standards being used are compatible with standards for undergraduates doing research in BMB faculty-member labs and the predetermined grading requirements set out at the beginning of the semester. Additionally, the faculty sponsor should communicate the requirements for general education credit.
Meet periodically with the student to discuss progress and any problems that might be encountered. Specifically ask if the student feels comfortable with the number of hours the research mentor is requiring on a weekly basis. Discuss any issues, should there be any, with the outside mentor and (if necessary) the Chair of the BMB Honors and Research Committee.