Research Opportunities
Get involved in student research in the QC Biology Department! We offer opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
- Biology Graduate Research Coordinator: David Lahti
- Queens College Director of Undergraduate Research: John Dennehy
- QC Office of Undergraduate Research
If you are interested in joining a Biology lab, follow these three steps.
- Scan the research interests of our faculty
- Contact a faculty member: Email them and briefly describe your interests, your program and year, and availabilities.
- Once you join a lab, you may wish to receive credit for your research work—if so, see registration info below.
Our faculty members run their labs in their own unique ways, so expect differences in terms of how they decide whether to accept research students, the level and duration of commitment they expect, the type of work students do, and the requirements to obtain research credit.
Undergraduate Research
The Biology Department not only values but also relies on undergraduate researchers, many of whom become skilled enough to contribute meaningfully to faculty research or handle their own semi-independent projects and, thus, merit coauthorship on scientific outputs (which can really enhance one’s resumé or CV).
Becoming a scientist is fun, but challenging! To learn basic principles and practice, including ethics, we strongly recommend you take BIO200 – Foundations of Biological Research, before or early in your undergraduate research career.
And note that our undergraduate researchers include students based in other units—especially the QC Honors in the Mathematics and Natural Sciences—and that Biology majors can take research credit in other units, such as Psychology, Neuroscience, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Earth & Environmental Sciences.
Visit the website of the Office of Undergraduate Research at Queens College. The Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship also provides summer internships; for this, studens should apply to the QC Office of Honors and Scholarships.
Undergraduate Research for Course Credit
Many of our undergraduate researchers opt to get course credit for the work they do. There are two main research courses, each of which can be taken for 1-3 credits.
- Biology 390: Undergraduate Research in Biology I
- Biology 391: Undergraduate Research in Biology II
If more credit is desired, Biology 391 can be taken multiple times. Students may change labs and mentors between courses, although we encourage sustained relationships with a single research laboratory and mentor in order to develop an advanced skill set and a deeper understanding of a particular research program.
Students must complete the following form and submit it to the Biology Office in order to register for undergraduate research for credit. It requires the signature of a faculty mentor. If students wish to submit the form electronically they must first gain mentor approval. Mentors will then email the Biology Office to approve registration.
Graduate Research
Enrollees in QC Master’s and CUNY PhD programs are heavily involved in research in the Biology Department. For information on doctoral programs, please visit our Doctoral Studies page or the relevant program at the CUNY Graduate Center, where our doctoral programs are based. For information on the Biology Master’s program, please see our Master’s Degrees page or contact our Graduate Research Coordinator (GRC: David Lahti). To register for graduate research courses or tutorial, please use the form below and have it signed by your mentor and the GRC. To submit it electronically, please seek your mentor’s approval—they will email the GRC, who will take it from there.
Research registration deadlines: Please note that the same registration deadlines apply when registering for research or tutorials as when registering for any other courses. Meaning, you can only register for these courses during the set registration periods.