Getting involved in research
Doing research in a faculty laboratory is a way to experience the real process of science and the search for new knowledge. Most Neuroscience labs have undergraduates as part of their research team. Those students get to apply their classroom knowledge and problem-solving skills to help make discoveries. Students usually work as part of teams supervised by PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, under the guidance of the faculty member. Student research may involve hands-on experiments, working with human subjects, analyzing data, developing research tools, or working with computational models.
How to find a research lab position
There are several ways to find a research position. To start, talk to classmates, staff undergraduate advisers, and your graduate student instructors (GSIs). Read about the research focus of faculty members on the Neuroscience Department faculty page, which gives links to individual lab research websites. Think about what scientific questions or approaches you are interested in. Then, either apply to a structured research program, or contact individual faculty to express your interest in their research and see if a position is available.
Structured research programs
University Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP)
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF)
Biology Scholars Program
and more at the research.berkeley.edu website
Apply directly to a neuroscience faculty lab
This is the most common way that students find a research position in a neuroscience lab. Here are tips on how to proceed: Check out the Neuroscience Department faculty page, or the broader Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute faculty page, to determine which labs you are interested in. Before contacting the professor, read the research description on their laboratory website, and review some of their recent publications. (You are not expected to understand the articles completely, but if you understand the general questions and approach, you will be more convincing when you contact them.). Then email the professor to express interest in their work and in joining their research team, and request an appointment. It's a good idea to include your resume and unofficial transcript in the email.
During your appointment, discuss what you find interesting about their work, tell them about your goals, and ask if they would be willing to accept you into their lab. Remember, it can be competitive to get into a lab, so you should approach this with focus and professionalism like you would for a job search.
Non-Neuro and Off-Campus Research Opportunities
Neuroscience majors who want research experience don't have to limit themselves to NEU Department labs. There are many positions available on campus in other departments, and off-campus. You can apply either through the structured research programs, or by contacting individual faculty. Other relevant departments at Berkeley include:
Anthropology
Bioengineering
MCB
IB
Psychology
School of Public Health
Off-campus, you can find many opportunities at UCSF , which includes laboratories at the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland.
Expectations for a lab research position
The specific expectations, including the number of hours per week and duration of commitment, vary from lab to lab. It is common to spend 10-12 hours per week on your research project. Many labs will ask for a 1-year commitment. Student research can be for credit, or can be paid, or can be on a volunteer basis (see below). This depends on the lab and their resources, and the type of project. You will have a project supervisor within the lab who will train you on all the needed methods, and will supervise your work. You may also be required to complete training courses or certifications that are needed for your research.
Research credit and honors research
Students can obtain course credit for their independent lab research by enrolling in NEU 99/199 and NEU 191 courses
Outstanding seniors can also undertake the Neuroscience Honors program, in which students perform laboratory research in fall and spring of their final year, culminating in a research presentation and a formal honors thesis. Honors students enroll in NEU 196A/196B for their honors research. Students who are interested in pursuing honors are strongly encouraged to look for a research position in a lab during the first semester of their junior year. Students typically perform a year of research in a lab before undertaking their honors research in that lab.
Gunther Stent Neuroscience Research Scholars Program
The Stent Neuroscience Research Scholars Program recognizes students who have a passion and strong talent for research, and provides financial support for them to conduct targeted research or scholarship in the laboratory of an established Neuroscience Department faculty member for one year. The goal is to allow students who have shown strong initial success in research to be able to immerse themselves in a research experience with a leading faculty member.
This research scholars program is named for Professor Gunther S. Stent, who was an early molecular biologist and visionary neuroscientist at UC Berkeley.
The program provides financial support in the form of a research stipend ($7500 for the 2024-2025 academic year) to support an undergraduate research during their junior or senior year. Students must have already identified a faculty mentor and demonstrated successful initial research in that faculty laboratory. The award will recognize both the student and the faculty mentor.
Faculty mentors must apply on behalf of the faculty-student pair. Students also fill out an information form. Please see the Stent Neuroscience Research Scholars pagefor more information. The application deadline for AY2024-25 is Aug 23, 2024. We anticipate funding two scholars for this year. Interested students should contact their faculty mentor to apply.
Research Experience Pathways (REP) Program
The REP-Neuroscience Program (REP Neuro) is an inclusive undergraduate research program focused on connecting work-study eligible Berkeley undergrads with Berkeley neuroscience laboratories for research experience, career mentorship, and scientific training.
REP is a year-long program. Students apply to REP, and each accepted student is matched to a specific project in a faculty lab, and works with their graduate student mentor to learn the ins-and-outs of that research project. In the spring, each REP student participates in the REP spring colloquium to present a poster of their scientific work. During the year, students also join weekly seminars with their REP community -- learning alongside their peers about the field of neuroscience, the path to graduate school, and career opportunities that await them as neuroscientists. REP Neuro provides financial support for student research via payment to students based on work study. REP students must have minimal or no prior research experience, and must be work-study eligible.
Applications are accepted each summer for the fall cohort. The deadline for Fall 2024 was June 30, 2024.
For more details, see theREP Neuro websiteor emailrepneuro@berkeley.edu
