Eager to experience a one-on-one training and mentorship that you'd normally find only in a small liberal arts college?

Want to develop skills that will make your application to graduate school, medical school or veterinary school really stand out from the crowd?

The UC Davis Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology is recruiting undergraduate students who are eager to experience one-on-one research training and mentorship.

This will be the third cohort of students.

The program, now officially approved by the Academic Senate, is coordinated by professor Jay Rosenheim and assistant professors Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu, all of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

The Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology provides the opportunity to learn research skills in all areas of biology, including:

• behavior and ecology
• biodiversity
• agroecology
• population biology
• mathematical bology
• human health
• cell biology
• biochemistry
• molecular biology

Bascially, the program, which includes more than 40 mentoring faculty, aims to provide UC Davis undergraduates with a closely-mentored research experience in biology. The goal: "to provide academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates with a multi-year research experience geared toward preparing them for a career in biological research," says Rosenheim.

Applications are now being accepted from first and second-year students and first-year transfer students. The application deadline is April 10, 2013.  More information on the program and how to apply is on the program’s website.

Successful venture? Yes, indeed.  Two members of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology recently received President's Undergraduate Fellowship Program (PUF) grants. 

They are Sarah Staley, mentored by medical entomologist Anthony “Anton” Cornel, associate entomologist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and based at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Parlier; and Don Hoang, mentored by evolutionary geneticist Artyom Kopp, professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology.

Staley and Hoang were among 25 undergraduate students receiving grants from a pool of 62 applicants. Staley submitted her proposal titled “Prevalence of Leucocytozoa Infections in Potential Vector Populations of Black Flies in Alaska.” Hoang's proposal: "The Yeast/Drosophila Relationship: Is it Meant to Last?”

Read their story on the UC Davis Department of Entomology website.

No small feat. Great things are happening in the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology. Jay Rosenheim, Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu are making it happen.