Research
Getting Involved in Research: Tips for Finding A Faculty Mentor
- In your first year, get in the habit of attending office hours. Introduce yourself to the professor and ask questions about the course material or even about the professor’s own research. Do this consistently throughout your time at UCLA so that you become known to your professors, and so that get you in the habit of asking questions and being proactive in your own education. Also, start thinking about volunteering in a laboratory or in a hospital. It is generally not recommended to volunteer during your first year, as students are still getting adjusted to the academic rigor of UCLA, but summer after your first year is a good time to start gaining volunteering experience. If you start early, you will be doing more résumé-worthy work by the time you apply to graduate or professional school.
- In your second year, start working on identifying faculty with whom to start an SRP-99. Keep in mind that your faculty sponsor must hold an Academic Senate title (i.e. Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Professor, etc.) and is conducting research related to the brain if you want to eventually complete the NEUROSC 199s as part of the independent research capstone.
Research Resources
- Undergraduate Research Center
- (SRP-99) When you log-on to your MyUCLA, you can view open positions on the Undergraduate Research Portal. This includes postings with current lab openings. You can complete SRP-99 research under a different department (i.e. Psychology, Psychiatry). For those planning on completing NEUROSC 199s for the independent research capstone, we will check to make sure it’s the same faculty sponsor.
- Neuroscience PhD Faculty List
- This site lists faculty conducting research within various areas of interest: brain imaging, developmental neuroscience, learning and memory, neural repair and neural degeneration, and more.
- Brain Research Institute Members
- You can use the UCLA Directory to verify their titles. The titles will be abbreviated: Assoc Prof, Asst Prof, and Prof. If you see the words “In Res,” that is acceptable. “Adj” signifies Adjunct, and you will not be approved to do research with this faculty.
- Undergraduate Research Portal in Computational Biosciences
- This portal was designed to connect UCLA faculty and UCLA undergraduates around biosciences research projects that involve data analysis or modeling.
Narrow down your choices to 5-10 professors. Then go to the Biomedical Library and look up two or three recent publications from each professor. Read them to see if they interest you. A few weeks before the quarter in which you’d like to begin an SRP-99, send emails to 3-5 of the professors you researched. The email should introduce yourself, mention particular publications of that professor you found interesting, and include a resume and transcript or Degree Audit. Mention in the cover letter that you will be calling in a few days to discuss your possible participation in the laboratory as an SRP-99 student. Then, call the potential sponsors and set up appointments to see them. Be sure to mention that you are eventually hoping to complete two quarters of upper division research with them as part of the major capstone.
In your junior and senior years, you can start your major capstone with NEUROSC 199A (or NEUROSC 198A for Departmental Honors students). If you are a transfer student, see the procedures above to begin volunteer work and to choose a sponsor for your research. One quarter of SRP-99 or departmental 199 in the lab and NEUROSC M101A are enforced prerequisites for both NEUROSC 198A/199A. Students choosing to complete research for the neuroscience major must do two quarters of upper division research in the same lab. Instructions for enrolling in research and capstone contracts can be found on the Major Capstone page.
