The six-week Practicum track gives students entering their senior year the opportunity to carry out meaningful research in a structured lab setting. In summer 2026, we offered two subjects of study: Computational Neurobiology and Data Science. The summer 2027 practicum course options will be announced in December.
Computational Neurobiology
This course serves as an introduction to neuroscience, covering a variety of topics spanning cellular biology and genetics to systems and computational neuroscience. Students learn the fundamentals of neuroscience during morning lectures and develop expertise in programming and computational modeling during the afternoon labs. Additionally, students will conduct wet lab experiments, such as characterizing motor circuits in crickets and earthworms, as well as using optogenetic techniques to study drosophila (fruit flies).
Weekly workshops also introduce students to the scientific process, research ethics, reading a research paper, presenting scientific research, and networking in the scientific community. If you have an interest in learning about systems neuroscience, neurobiology, computer science, using the scientific method, and designing computational models of the brain, the Computational Neurobiology track is for you.
The RISE Practicum combines lab work with instructor-led lectures to provide the opportunity to conduct research. You will work together with other students under the guidance of an instructor who delivers morning research-intensive lectures and oversees afternoon lab work. The lab experiments are designed to demonstrate procedures that are representative of neurobiology research focused on computational modeling of neural systems.
In addition to workshops, you will participate in weekly activities such as industry site tours and research talks. While the Practicum has clearly outlined protocols and requires methodical and thorough collection, measurement, and synthesis of data, the final outcome of the research—as with all scientific research—cannot be predicted in advance. At the conclusion of the program, Practicum students will present their research alongside Internship track students at the RISE Poster Symposium.
Data Science
Many professionals and researchers across industries think of statistics and computational methods as a collection of loosely related tools that are confusing and unreliable. However, formal statistical thinking offers us well-defined and highly interpretable principles that can be used to provide deep insights into the nature of measurement, data collection, experimental design, and the communication of uncertainty about the world in which we find ourselves.
This course gives students the opportunity to learn formal statistical thinking that can be used to carry out meaningful research as a budding computational scientist; specifically, we emphasize computational statistics as a lively field where new statistical methods are created nearly every day. Making use of data from the neurosciences, environmental science, physics, economics, and urban planning, students will learn essential statistical and coding skills. This includes a wide set of computational modeling approaches, uncertainty quantification skills, and frameworks for reproducible scientific computing. Additionally, students will also learn valuable perspectives in scientific rigor and ethics as a data-informed practitioner.
The RISE Practicum combines instructor-led lectures with the opportunity to conduct one of several styles of computational research: time series analyses (e.g., forecasting), statistical method benchmarking, or scientific software development. You will work together with other students under the guidance of an instructor who delivers morning research and methods-intensive lectures and oversees afternoon lab work. While the Practicum has clearly outlined protocols and research structure, the final outcome of the research—as with all scientifically meaningful research—cannot be predicted in advance. At the conclusion of the program, Practicum students will present their research alongside Internship track students at the RISE Poster Symposium.
Get an inside look at Boston’s local companies
Together, Boston and Cambridge are home to one of the largest hubs for the biological sciences in the United States. Over 1,000 companies have facilities in the greater Boston area. During weekly trips around Cambridge and Boston, Practicum students will have the opportunity to explore a large part of this exciting scientific community and visit local companies.
Past visits include:
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Students engaged in in-depth discussions with a number of employees and learned about the many facets of working in the leading edge of RNA interference, and gained valuable career and college insights.
Broad Discovery Center:Students explored real-world biomedical challenges at the Broad Discovery Center, where they engaged with interactive exhibits on genetics, infectious disease, and cancer research. They also spoke with Broad Institute scientists about their career paths and toured the Center’s dynamic gallery space in Kendall Square.
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research:Students participated in an outreach program at the Koch Institute, beginning with an introduction to the Institute’s research. They explored core research facilities based on their interests and engaged in a Q&A session with scientists about their work and career paths.
Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC): Students had the opportunity to visit EPIC, which is a 15,000-square-foot, multi-million dollar engineering, and manufacturing facility open to all BU students. Students toured the facility and engaged in conversations about how BU students use the EPIC space to advance their academics.
Guest Speakers From Companiessuch as WHOOP, Wayfair, Biogen, and BPGBio. Speakers shared insights on how science drives innovation across fields like biotechnology, healthcare, and civic technology among others.
