Thus, your choice of a faculty mentor is not limited to the Biology faculty. This is a faculty member who is willing to talk with you on a regular basis about your research and keep track of what you are doing in your mentor s laboratory. All Biology faculty are willing to sponsor students doing research in other laboratories at the University. To identify a potential faculty mentor we suggest talking to professors you have had in class and scanning individual faculty web pages to identify a research program in an area of particular interest to you. Ideally, you will identify several possible mentors in this fashion.
Professors are generally more than willing to talk with students about their research programs.
However, students should recognize that not all faculty have the space, time, or resources to mentor every interested undergraduate. Therefore, you may encounter faculty who are not able to consider you for a position in their laboratory. In this event simply continue your search for a mentor do not be discouraged. Perseverance in finding a mentor will almost always be rewarded. We suggest that the process of finding a mentor be started approximately one semester before you would like to begin your research project.