Undergraduate Student Research

UCA biologists engage in a wide range of research activities, from studies related to cancer treatment to studies of ecological relationships in Arkansas streams. Research projects engage students in a wide variety of activities.  Faculty supervise student research projects and much of the equipment and instrumentation obtained through faculty projects is also available to students.

Ways to get involved with undergraduate research

  1. Volunteer in a faculty research program.
  2. Obtain research credit at the 3000- or 4000-level.  This will appear on your transcript as either BIOL 3V85 or BIOL 4V85.  See below for details.

Research Credit

Students may receive 3000-level credit (3×85) for research with faculty members by speaking with faculty members with openings for undergraduate researchers.  Credit for 3×85 counts as a general upper-division elective, but does NOT count as elective hours toward the biology major laboratory credit
hour requirements.

Students may receive 4000-level credit (4×85) for approved research with faculty members.  Credit for 4×85 counts as elective hours toward the biology major requirements (up to 4 hours).  Approval for 4×85 credit requires students to consult with a faculty member the semester prior to the proposed research, and formulate and submit a research proposal to the Undergraduate Research Committee for approval.  Review the Guidelines for Students/Faculty Submitting Undergraduate Research Proposals, complete the Undergraduate Research Credit Request Form, and submit proposals by email to the committee chair, Dr. Mindy Farris, mfarris@uca.edu.   Evaluation Criteria for research proposals can be found here.

Due dates/timeline for 4000-level credit research proposals:

Summer research—Proposal due 2nd Monday in April.
Fall research—Proposal due 2nd Monday in April, unless the student will be doing 3000-level research with the same faculty member during the summer, in which case the proposal is due the 3rd Friday in July.
Spring research—Proposal due Friday following Thanksgiving break.

After submission to the committee chair, the proposals will be sent to the committee for review.  Within 2 weeks students and mentors will be notified by email of any modifications requested or a final decision.  Resubmissions and reevaluations must be complete by the end of add/drop.  Approved credit hours will be emailed to the CNSM program coordinator (Jennifer McCune, mccunej@uca.edu) by Dr. Farris for generation of a CRN# for registration.  Students must still register for the course through DegreeWorks by the end of add/drop.