BIOS Research Credits:
Participating
in Research in a Biology Professor‘s Lab
*****requires at least 3.0 bioGPA******
Quotes
from some past juniors and seniors:
"I would not have gotten my internship position if I had not...[had] 370 and have produced quite a lot for an undergrad.
...[it gave me my only] experience in experimental design."
"It gives students a chance to work side by side with a professor or
graduate students and to get their feet wet in a lab experience. "
Each student’s first semester of research
is as BIOS 370 (directed research) credits
1. Students generally start as second-semester juniors, i.e., when they have
completed 2 full years equivalent of college and have taken most of the BIOS
core courses.
2. Requires a 3.0 bioGPA (bioGPA =your GPA
in BIOS courses plus courses required for the BIOS major (CHEM 210, 211, 212,
213, 330 or 336, 331 or 337; MATH 229 and 230 or MATH 211 and STAT301; PHYS 210
and 211 or 253 and 273)).
3. Each 1 hour of credit should represent roughly 3 hours per week in the
laboratory.
4. If you are in the university honors program, you can get honors credit for
BIOS370 by filling out their in-course honors contract form.
Subsequent semesters of research will be as
BIOS 370 or 499 or 495H credits, depending on your GPA
1. BIOS495H: if your bioGPA is
3.5 or better and you want to graduate with Bio Honors (next section)
2. BIOS499H: If your bioGPA is
between 3.2 and 3.5 and you are in university honors
3. BIOS370: If your bioGPA is
between 3.0 and 3.2 or you are not interested in university or department
honors
4. Maximum credits toward major for BIOS
370, 490, 499, 495H combined is 6, except students admitted to departmental
honors may take 6 in 495H and up to 3 in 370, 490, 499 combined.
Departmental
Honors in Biology
1.
Take 1-3 cr. of BIOS 370 (see above).
2. Then take 6 cr. total of BIOS 495H over 2 semesters.
3. To graduate with departmental honors in biology, a bioGPA
of at least 3.5 must be maintained from when you sign up for your first
semester of BIOS495H, through graduation.
4. Write a senior thesis on your research with guidance from your professor, and
then give a copy to the honors advisor, Dr. B. King, MO446. The senior research
project may double as a University honors capstone project.
Signing up for BIOS 370/495
1. Pick a faculty member
that you would like to work with, whose research sounds interesting to you:
find out who researches what in the list below, or go to the biology homepage or look at the listings on
the wall outside of the main office MO349. There is not a list of who has space
or projects in any given semester, you have to ask them.
2. Any questions? See Dr.
Bethia King, BIOS370/Honors Advisor, MO 446, 753-8460, bking@niu.edu.
3. Get permit slip from biology main office MO 349. BIOS 370 requires signature
of professor whose lab you'll be working in. BIOS 495H also requires signature
of Dr. B. King.
4. Knock on a professor's door and ask: "Will you have room in your lab
for me? What sort of research project would you have me working on? How will I
be evaluated?” Decide with him/her whether to take 1, 2 or 3 credits (depends on your needs
and what projects the professor has for you)
More information at http://www.bios.niu.edu/advising/bking.shtml
FACULTY
NIU DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
To find out if a faculty member will direct you in a research project for BIOS
credit, ask him or her.
Email addresses are at http://www.bios.niu.edu/faculty_staff/index.shtml
|
Nick
Barber |
MO* |
Community
Ecology; Plant-insect Interactions; Trophic Cascades |
|
Neil
Blackstone |
MO
339/423 |
Evolution
of Development and Complexity |
|
Barrie
Bode |
MO449/412 |
Cancer
Biology and Molecular Physiology |
|
Jozef Bujarski |
MO
439/314 |
Plant
Molecular Biology; Molecular Virology |
|
Ana
Calvo |
MO
308A/309 |
Molecular
Microbiology; Gene Regulation; Plant Pathogenic Fungi |
|
Melvin
Duvall |
MO
345/309 |
Molecular
Phylogenetics & Evolution, especially in
Angiosperms |
|
Ken
Gasser |
MO
448/419 |
Cell
Physiology |
|
Richard
Hahin |
MO
333/116 |
Nerve
& Muscle: Physiology, Anesthesia, Toxins, & Disease |
|
Stuart
Hill |
MO
325A/311 |
Genetic
recombination; antigenic variation in prokaryotes |
|
Gabriel
Holbrook |
MO
359/327 |
Plant
Physiology; Plant Biochemistry |
|
Chris
Hubbard |
MO
337/408 |
Endocrine
Cell Signaling; Growth Factors and Cell Growth & Metabolism |
|
Mike
Hudspeth |
MO
336/405 |
Molecular
Biology; Organelles; Mycology; Fungal Plant Pathogens |
|
Mitrick Johns |
MO
449/409 |
Plant
& Animal Molecular Genetics |
|
Barbara
Johnson-Wint |
MO
119A/119 |
Development;
Enzymatic & Physical Reorganization of Collagen by Cells; Micro- & Hypergravity |
|
Bethia King |
MO
446/428 |
Animal
Behavior; Entomology |
|
Richard
King |
MO
445/430 |
Evolutionary
Ecology; Herpetology |
|
David
Lotshaw |
MO
340/312 |
Membrane
Physiology & Cell Function |
|
R.
Meganathan |
MO
335/309 |
Microbes:
Physiology; Biochemistry; Genetics & Molecular Biology |
|
Peter
Meserve |
MO
434/429 |
Population
& Community Ecology; Biogeography; Birds & Mammals |
|
Jon
Miller |
MO
333/329 |
Cell
Physiology; Comparative Invertebrate Immunology |
|
Virginia
Naples |
MO
425 |
Anatomy;
Functional Morphology; Mammalogy |
|
Neil
Polans |
MO
338/317 |
Plants:
Molecular and Population Genetics; Systematics;
Evolution |
|
Thomas
Sims |
MO
325D/321 |
Plants:
Cellular Processes, Regulation of Developmental Programming ,
Self-Incompatibility |
|
Joel
Stafstrom |
MO
342/313 |
Cellular
and Molecular Biology; Regulation of translation; Plant stress |
|
Carl
von Ende |
MO
453/216 |
Population
& Community Ecology; Aquatic Ecology; Plant Ecology |
|
Linda
Yasui |
MO
358/114 |
Radiation
Biology; DNA Damage & Repair in Chromatin |
|
Shengde Zhou |
MO
435 |
Microbial
genetics, molecular biology, metabolic engineering, biotechnology |
* Dr. Barber is not on campus
currently, so if you are interested in working with him, talk to Dr. Bodie or Dr. B. King.
All offices are in Montgomery Hall. Office hours are posted at each office.
Departmental office is Room 349. Phone: 815-753-1753, 815-753-0433.