**PLEASE NOTE THE BIOS 299 and 310 INSTRUCTOR CHANGE**
FROM SUMMER 2024, DR. JOEY OLMOS (olmos@rice.edu) IS THE COURSE INSTRUCTOR
If you have enrollment or research opportunity questions, please contact Dr. Olmos.
BIOS 310* and NEUR 310 are independent study research courses for Rice Undergraduates offered by the Department of Biosciences at Rice University. Students find a research lab on campus or elsewhere in the Texas Medical Center, participate in an ongoing research project with the lab and then complete a final paper or poster on their research. This page is to guide you through the process of searching, registering, and participating in scientific research during your undergraduate career.
How do I use this site?
In the sidebar labeled ‘Table of Contents’, you will find the relevant information to get you started with undergraduate research, as well as information to help you as you progress. Below is a summary of what’s in each section.
- Getting Started – As the title says, this section is to help you get started on undergraduate research and to answer your frequently asked questions. How do you find out what research is being done in Houston? What is the etiquette of asking to join a lab? Should I even do research? All of these questions are discussed here.
- Registering for Research Credit – Here we describe, in detail the application and registration process for the courses.
- Finding Research Opportunities – Here, we get into more details on finding labs on and off campus, and the benefits/drawbacks of such a choice.
- Off Campus Research – We’ve compiled information to reference when deciding if and where to perform off-campus research.
- Course Expectations – This page contains the traditional syllabus material; overview of course assignments, workload expectations, and Rice resources for those enrolled in research for credit. what the course assignments are, what the workload is supposed to be, and what resources at Rice you can draw upon.
- For Research Advisors – While Rice has expectations for the students that take this class, faculty advisors that take on undergraduate researchers are expected to provide mentorship. This page helps prepare faculty for that role. This page will also assist those seeking to recruit new undergraduate researchers.
- Contacting the Instructors – Information on how to contact or meet the BIOS 310 and NEUR 310 Instructors
Application Forms
If you are already familiar with the process of registering for the course, you may use the links below to send in your application to receive credit for research. If this is your first time registering for BIOS 310 or NEUR 310 for credit, please read through the above described sections to learn about the process. Note that processing your registration does not begin until after your research advisor has confirmed that you may join the lab; further, course instructors will often process these in batches for efficiency’s sake – this means that you may not receive a course override until up to a week after your research advisor has accepted you into the lab.
*The course BIOC 310 was renamed BIOS 310 in Fall 2020 but retains the same structure and requirements.
** The BIOS 310 application form is only for off-campus research. Those in Biosciences faculty labs will register directly through your professor’s section. If you wish to perform BIOS 310 research with a Rice faculty member who is not a Biosciences primary or joint faculty member, you will need to find a Biosciences research faculty member willing to sponsor your out-of-department research.