HHMI-NMSU Undergraduate Research
Scholars Program An undergraduate research initiative

Program Overview

The HHMI-NMSU Research Scholars Program is designed to produce a group of graduating seniors who will be ready to excel at even the best graduate schools. Additionally, we want to develop a sense of community by maximizing student involvement and student exposure to genuine research problems.

• Each year Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors are recruited into the program. Once admitted, students are expected to remain in the program through their senior year.
• Research Scholars are matched with a faculty mentor who will work with them to design a research project. Scholars will work on their research project through their final semester at NMSU. 
• Scholars are expected to spend at least 4 hours per week in the lab of their mentor during the academic year, attend research seminars of their home department, attend Hughes sponsored events and take courses designed to help them carry out biological research.
• During the summer of their Junior year, Scholars will participate in an intensive, full-time summer research experience which will consist largely of independent research with a faculty mentor. Scholars will recieve a salary for their summer work and should not participate in any other activities such as outside employment or classes at this time.
• Scholars will also have the opportunity to perform their intensive summer research at Cornell University through a student exchange program.
• Senior year students will continue to work on their projects while writing an honors thesis. 

 

Application Process

Applicants must submit the following to the head of their academic department for consideration for the program. A list of participating departments and their department heads can be found in the table below.

• A one page personal statement describing long-range goals (biomedical researcher, environmental scientist, etc...) that reflected on experiences which influenced the development of these goals. The personal letter also described applicants motivation and reasons for being interested in the program.
• A curriculum vitae (resume) listing previous work experience, honors and awards, extracurricular activities, etc...
• Official copies of applicants transcripts.
• A interview sheet provided by the academic department indicating that he/she interviewed with at least three participating faculty members. The interviews gave the applicants the opportunity to become familiar with the research interests of faculty mentors and assisted in matching mentors with Research Scholars. Additional information about the research interests of participating faculty members can be found on their webpages.

Participating Departments

Department	Department Head
Biology	Marv Bernstein
Chemistry and Biochemistry	Glenn Kuehn
Computer Science	Desh Ranjan
Psychology	James McDonald
Animal and Range Science	Tim Ross
Fishery and Wildlife Science	Raul Valdez
Plant and Environmental Science	Gregory Mullins
EPPWS	David Thompson

(Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical institute and by cost-share funds from New Mexico State University.)

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If you have any questions about the application process or any other aspect of the program then please feel free to contact the program administrator:

Tonia Lane
HHMI Program Administrator
Department of Biology
Phone: 505-646-6234
email: tlane@nmsu.edu