The
Freshman/Sophomore MBRS-RISE (fsRISE) program
generally (but not necessarily) follows a student's
introduction to scientific research as a RISING
Researcher Awardee in their first semester at UTSA.
After applying to and being accepted to the fsRISE
program (and successfully handing the academic
rigors of their first semester), freshmen are
introduced to the research laboratory; students will rotate through research
laboratories on the UTSA campus, to learn about
laboratory culture and available fields. In
Summer, students will experience our Summer Research
Bootcamp.
Research Rotations:
Freshman/Sophomore RISE students will rotate through
2 or 3 laboratories, for 10 hours per week for
approximately 4 weeks each lab. Students will
look through the
list of approved MBRS-RISE mentors and submit a
list of approximately 6-8 laboratories in which which they would like to
rotate. Program staff will contact the mentors.
Students may receive a mentor whom they did not
suggest, if there is a solid mentor within their
field who is available and others are not. When a mentor
agrees to take on a student, they will generally set
up a meeting between the student and themselves, to
work out an agreement. The student should
present the
Mentor/Student Agreement to the mentor at that
time, or as soon as possible, so that they both work
out correct timing for the student to be in the lab
as well as expectations. Students are expected
to approach their laboratory stay actively- they
should observe, but also dig more deeply into the
topic being investigated. To do so, students
will be required to
read a research paper from that laboratory.
If your mentor does not give you one, ask Dr. Taylor
for assistance in finding an appropriate paper on
Pubmed (http://www.pubmed.gov
). While in the laboratory, students
should keep a
personal laboratory notebook; when a
student observes an experiment, they should write it
up as if they were the one performing it. They
should also keep a
Weekly Log Sheet, which will keep track of the
time spent in the laboratory and activities
performed; this will be turned in at the beginning
of the next week and will serve as their timecard
for that week. Finally, the student should
work with their laboratory supervisor to fill out
the
Weekly Rotations Results, which will be
presented by the student to at the weekly Rotations
Meeting (Friday 11:00 AM in BSE 1.632, when there
isn't a
RISE Seminar). Overall, we hope that these
rotations will provide deeper insight to the
students into the world of laboratory research, and
also assist them in their choice of a research
mentor when they begin full-time research during the
Summer.
Summer Research Bootcamp:
In the Summer (beginning May 18 in 2009 and running
until August 7), Freshman/Sophomore RISE students
will participate in a Full Time Summer Research
Bootcamp. The Bootcamp will consist of 4 weeks
of intensive training in laboratory techniques and
practices, followed by 8 weeks of full time
laboratory research. Training in research writing,
ethics, professional skills, and leadership
development will also take place during this Summer
experience. Participating students should NOT
plan on taking any academic courses during the
Bootcamp, but will be paid for 40 h/week. More
information can be found
here!
Continued Sophomore-Level
Research:
Following the Summer Experience, Sophomore-level students
who participated in all freshman-level activities will
continue their research effort at 15 h/week during
the Fall and Spring semesters and will attend weekly fsRISE meetings. They will attend either the
ABRCMS (Phoenix
in 2009) or SACNAS
(Dallas in 2009) conference as a group. During
this time, students will also begin working on
applications for Jr/Sr RISE, MARC U*STAR, or other
research-associated programs on campus. They
will also apply to summer research programs that
occur throughout the country!