Student Research

Members of the Biology faculty encourage students to conduct research. Several recent studies of science education have concluded that students become more engaged with science if they have an opportunity to work on real scientific problems while still in school. The National Academy of Sciences in its seminal report “Bio2012: Transforming Undergraduate Education for For Future Research Biologists” has called for colleges and universities to make undergraduate research more widely available. The Department of Biology is answering that call with a renewed emphasis and new approaches to undergraduate research. Undergraduate research projects are not just for students who want to pursue the Ph.D. Medical schools, veterinary schools and institutions who employ bachelor’s-level scientists also look to these projects as indicators of a candidate’s level of accomplishment and dedication.

Our students are working with some of the most important technologies in life science research including cell cultures, bioinformatics techniques, and polymerase chain reactions. They are using these techniques to conduct original studies of important questions in biology. You can find out more about some of these projects on the home pages of our faculty.

Research can also be conducted at other institutions. Wilmington students have, in recent years, secured funded summer fellowships at institutions such as Northwestern University, the University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University and Miami University. These programs have helped our students build their resumes for a wide variety of careers without having to sacrifice a summer’s income.

Wilmington students are encouraged to publish their results and to give presentations of their work at scientific meetings. Our students have presented materials at The Ohio Academy of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Annual Midwestern Conference of Parasitologists.