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Senior Research Students who wish to do field/laboratory
research should apply for "research positions" with
individual faculty members. Faculty will select
their research students from the field of
applicants. It is possible that you will not be
selected to work with the faculty member of your
choice. A faculty member may have a full complement
of research students already, or may have applicants
with better preparation for the kind of research
being undertaken. If you really want to do a
field/laboratory project, but prefer to work on a
project of your own design rather than doing a part
of the faculty research project, a faculty member
may choose to advise you. The advice you will get
may be somewhat less insightful and the technical
assistance less specialized, but it should be
enough to facilitate the project. Every research
proposal must ultimately be evaluated and approved
by the research comittee. As you begin your research, keep in mind that
UNCA offers undergraduate research grants that may
help defray the cost of that research. This may
allow you to participate in projects that the
Biology Department alone could not fund. The
University also funds students who wish to present
their projects at the annual meeting of the
National Council on Undergraduate Research. This
experience involves travel with faculty and other
students to another university where hundreds of
other undergraduate students are also sharing their
research. It
is important that you begin to work on your project
early in the spring, in order to be prepared to
present results the following spring.
Biology
majors who choose to meet the competency
requirement via Senior Research are required to
submit a research paper to the biology faculty and
make an oral presentation to the department or at a scholarly meeting such as NCUR. Work
on your senior research will generally require at
least a full academic year. Students must complete two forms (see this link) and have a research committee. Committee members will discuss the merits of the candidate's research based on the research paper and
the candidate's oral presentation, then decide upon a grade. If you do not
turn in a satisfactory paper, you will not
graduate. Keep in mind that you are demonstrating
your mastery of biological concepts and your
competence in evaluating evidence. This is a
serious requirement that demands your best
effort.