Oregon State University HHMI Program

The summer of 2009 was the eleventh year of our successful program. A summary of the research results and presentations of the students in each year is summarized via the links below:

We were grateful for support of our program from

1. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

2. OSU University Honors College (UHC)

3. UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH, INNOVATION, SCHOLARSHIP, CREATIVITY (URISC) Program at OSU

4. Cripps scholarships, Jaworski scholarships

5. OSU Faculty Mentors

General Informative Video for New HHMI Students (required viewing) HERE

The Catalyst is OSU's Undergraduate Journal, partly sponsored by the HHMI program.

Download Volume 1 HERE / Download Volume 2 HERE / Download Volume 3 HERE

HHMI Summer Undergraduate Research FAQs

1. Who is the program aimed at? - Students who have completed their freshman, sophomore, or junior year of college. We encourage students who have completed their freshman year to apply AND they stand an equal chance of being accepted.

2. Is research experience required? - No, absolutely not. About half of the students in the program each year have never had research experience previously.

3. What does it take to apply? - Students must have a professor who is willing to "sponsor" them in the program. This basically requires them to agree to guide the student's research and to provide the necessary supplies. The HHMI program pays for 11 weeks of full time research. All of this is explained in the application.

4. Is the program restricted to any particular majors or to OSU students? No. The only requirement is that students must be doing research related to the biological sciences and it must be performed with an OSU professor. Also, for the first time this year, OSU students will also have options of working with professors at the University of Washington, University of Montana, or Montana State University.

5. Are graduating seniors, post-bacs, grad students, or students planning to take longer than 4 years to graduate eligible? In general, the answer is yes, they are eligible, but the further along a student is, the less likely they will be accepted. This is because our program is aimed at helping students to decide if a research career is right for them or not. The further along a student is in schooling, the more likely that decision has been made. There are exceptions, occasionally, though. Grad students, however, are NEVER considered.

6. My sponsoring professor is willing to pay my stipend so I can be in the program. Is that possible? Yes. On average 4-8 students per year participate in the program this way.

7. I have money to pay me from another program. Can I participate? Generally, yes, unless there are complications associated with the money, such as requirements we cannot fulfill. Common external funding sources for students in our program include OSU's URISC Program, the Jaworski Scholarships, the Cripps Scholarships, NSF REU funds, and others.

8. I'm willing to be in the program for free. Can I be in it? In general, we discourage this, for several reasons, including insurance purposes. There are, rare exceptions, though.

9. How do I find a professor who will sponsor me in the program? If you don't already have someone in mind, please contact Kevin Ahern at ahernk@onid.orst.edu and he will help you.

10. Can I take classes while I'm in the program? Maybe - this is left to the discretion of the sponsoring professor. Some allow it. Others don't.

11. Can I do research part time? No - this program is strictly for students to do full-time research.

12. What do you look for in applicants/applications? We evaluate applications on five criteria - GPA, quality of proposal, history of success/support of sponsoring professor, student initiative, and miscellany. Student initiative is measured by the number of applications for other funding sources, such as URISC, etc. This is explained in the application.

13. What dates does the program run? We like for students to start by the last week of June and finish by early September.

14. What if I'm at a different school and our calendars don't match? In general, we try to be flexible, but we can't accommodate all requests.

15. What do I have to do in the program? 1) Satisfy your sponsoring professor; 2) attend small group sessions with Kevin to put together a 15 minute scientific talk; 3) give a scientific talk at the end of the year symposium; 4) write up a summary report of your research experiences for possible publication in The Catalyst.

16. What are the dates of the symposium? In 2008, the symposium is held on Thursday, September 25 and Friday, September 26.

17. Do students have to attend all the talks of the symposium? In general, we expect students will be present for all the talks of the symposium.

18. Can I be in the program more than one year? Yes, but you will have to apply each time.

19. When will I know if I am accepted in the program? We begin notifying students in early April that they are accepted. Since we have many different funding sources in the program and not all of them decide by early April, the last of the notifications are not made until later April or early May.

20. Do I have to use all of my pay in summer or can I save some of it and spend it during the school year as well? No. All pay must be used before the start of school.