Northern Illinois University
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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, 230 or MATH 211, STAT301; PHYS 210 and 211 or 253 and 273)

Why is there a GPA requirement for doing research credits? Professors feel that students with lower GPAs should concentrate on raising them.

• Being involved in actual research is the best way to learn the process of science.
• It helps you evaluate whether a career involving research is right for you.
• You may have a chance to interact with graduate students, which can help you decide if attending graduate school would be right for you.
• By working more closely with a professor than is usually possible in a classroom setting, you have someone who can write a meaningful letter of recommendation for you for graduate school, professional school, scholarships, internships and jobs.

Roughly three hours per week of work for each hour of credit.

Most students start their junior year because by then they have a solid background through coursework.

There is no list of professors with openings. Instead you pick someone and ask them if they have a project and space in their lab for you. Professors aren't required to let undergraduates participate in their research; they do it because they enjoy working with students.

A high GPA suggests that you are probably motivated, bright, perseverant and a hard worker. This is important because training a student can be a big commitment of the professor's time and sometimes research money.

For more information about professors, their research and links to their individual bio pages, view the NIU Biological Sciences Laboratory Faculty Research List.

The research does not have to be in the exact field that you plan a career in. The general process of doing science is what matters. For example, the first undergraduate research that I did was on leaf decomposition, but now I work on animal behavior. I chose the professor because he had a good reputation for research and working with students. I learned general principles of experimental design, analyses, interpretation, literature search and scientific writing.

Email the professor:

• Say that you are interested in working in their lab for undergraduate research credits
• Ask if they might have room in their lab that semester
• Ask for an appointment to meet with them, and attach an unofficial copy of your college transcripts.

When you meet in person, you will want to ask things like:

• What sort of research would you have me working on?
• Will I have set hours?
• How will I be evaluated?

If you haven't met them before, try to get a sense of whether their personality will work well with yours. (You can also get some sense of this if you've had them as a professor and from talking to other students.)

If your working with them suits both you and the professor, have the professor sign a course permit. Decide with the professor whether to take one, two or three credits (depends on your needs and what projects the professor has for you).

You can obtain a course permit from the biology main office in Montgomery Hall, room 349.

The maximum credits toward the bio major for BIOS 370, 490, 499, 495 combined is nine.

What course you sign up for after one semester of BIOS 370, depends on whether you have been admitted into the biology department honors program and whether you are officially in the University Honors Program:

• If you are in the University Honors program, regardless of whether you are in the departmental honors program, take BIOS499.
  • The permit requires signatures both from the faculty member in whose lab you will be working and from the University Honors Program.
• If you are in just the departmental honors program and not the university honors program, take BIOS495.
  • The permit requires signatures both from the faculty member in whose lab you will be working and from Bethia King.
• If you are in neither University Honors nor the departmental honors program, take BIOS370.

The requirements must be completed in the following order:

1. Complete at least one credit of BIOS 370
2. Prior to signing up for your second semester of research, gain admittance to departmental honors, which requires a biosciGPA of at least 3.5 and permission of the honors advisor (i.e., email or bring an unofficial copy of your transcript to Bethia King at bking@niu.edu along with the name of the faculty member under whom you will be engaging in research).
3. Complete six credits (usually two semesters) of BIOS 495 or 499
4. Maintain a cumulative biosciGPA of at least 3.5 from your second semester of research through graduation.
5. Present and explain the results of the honors project at either the departmental or university undergraduate research symposium.
6. At the end of your last semester, turn in a senior thesis on your research, which will be written in consultation with your research advisor (the faculty member you did research with). A copy containing the signed approval of your research advisor must be given to the honors advisor, Bethia King, MO446.

Doing lower level (your first two years) in university honors allows you to sign up earlier for classes, thus increasing the odds of getting into classes that fill quickly. Whereas departmental honors focus more strictly on research experience in science, upper-level university honors are more about traditional courses, less tied to your major, and emphasizes civic engagement, although it can also include a smaller research experience.

The senior research project that you do for departmental honors may double as a university honors capstone project.

NIU has some programs through the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning. Note: NIU tends to include these sorts of opportunities under "engaged learning" and "experiential learning".