Faculty members and graduate students often recruit undergraduate students to assist in their research and labs. Some students volunteer, others are hired, while others register to earn 3 hours of course credit. Through any of these approaches, this is a great way to build your skills, add an impressive line to your resume/vita, build a strong letter of recommendation, and build relationships with your peers. For those considering pursuing a doctoral degree later, this experience can be very impactful for your application.
There are opportunities for those interested in clinical topics, school psychology, and experimental areas such as cognitive psychology and behavioral neuroscience. Explore the different faculty research areas available for you to volunteer and get involved. Keep an eye open for announcements posted around the psychology department, especially on the bulletin boards and screens, for faculty and grad students looking for assistants.
For those interested in course credit, talk with your advisor and a faculty member about registering for PSYC 4503, 4504, 4505, or4506. These courses are considered pass/fail and may be repeated for additional credit. However, only 9 credit hours of this work may count toward your degree. Of these 9 credit hours, you may contract with the same researcher for a maximum of 6 hours of credit. You must work with your advisor and faculty mentor to secure the proper paper work to register for this experience.
Undergraduate students involved in research may earn the "Undergraduate Research Scholar" designation on their transcripts and receive an honor cord to wear at graduation. This is accomplished by conducting a piece of research that you then present or publish at any of over a dozen options and submitting an application prior to graduation. Learn more at this site.
St. Jude invites our best students to apply for our NIH/NCI-funded (5 R25CA023944-40) Pediatric Oncology Education (POE) Program. The program offers a unique opportunity for pre-doctoral students preparing for careers in the biomedical sciences, medicine, and pharmacy to gain biomedical and oncology research experience. Students participate in basic or clinical oncology research, a core lecture series designed specifically for them, as well as research and clinical conferences. All participants make a PowerPoint presentation on their research project and submit a report on their research project written in the style of a journal in which their faculty mentor publishes.
A primary goal of the POE program is to encourage students to pursue a career in cancer research. Thus, we are particularly interested in highly qualified students with a serious career interest in cancer research, either as a clinical scientist or laboratory-based research scientist. Our St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences offers training in leading-edge scientific fields paired with unique mentoring in the St. Jude clinical experience. Highly motivated POE students will have the opportunity to be considered for admission to the St. Jude Graduate School upon completion of their undergraduate degree.
All POE program applicants must already have research experience and be full time students at the time they apply. Applicants must be United States citizens, non-citizen nationals, or possess a visa permitting permanent residence in the United States (required by the funding agency). All must be in at least their college sophomore year of college at the time they apply. POE medical students spend a minimum of 10 weeks in the program. The minimum tenure requirement for all others is 11 weeks. All POE applicants must have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.40 (on a 4.0 scale) in math and science (biology, chemistry, and physics) and at least a 3.40 overall. Program participants will receive a $600/week subsistence allowance. Fully furnished group housing will be provided at no cost for non-local participants.
The POE home page contains links to the program application. The deadline for receipt of all 2025 application materials is February 1, 2025. Early application and submission of materials is highly recommended.
To encourage student research in psychological science, the APS Student Grant Competition provides small “seed grant” funding to support research in its initial development stages, e.g., the purchase of research materials or other expenses incurred prior to data collection. Up to six awards ($500 each) will be given to APS student affiliates (graduates and undergraduates). Research proposals in all areas of psychological science are welcome. Peers will evaluate each research proposal on the clarity in the presentation of ideas, the ability of the project to explain some psychological phenomenon, and the ability of the project to advance research in a specified area. Applicants will receive copies of the peer reviews once the competition has concluded.
Applicants must be current APS student affiliates and may only enter one APSSC competition each year (i.e., Student Grant Competition, Student Research Award, Emerging Scholar Award, or RISE Research Award) and as such are only eligible for one of these three awards each academic year. (Note: travel assistance for convention volunteers is excluded from this rule.)
The APA Summer Undergraduate Psychology Experience in Research (SUPER) Fellowships is for the undergraduate student who is looking to gain research experience and is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. SUPER faculty hosts will receive a $1,000 stipend and their undergraduate researchers will receive $4,000. Applications, including a letter of support from the faculty member, are due March 1, 2025.
SUPER is just one of the awards and funding opportunities offered by APA’s Science Directorate. View all of them, including those for students and career researchers, at apa.org/science/awards.
Undergraduate students have the opportunity to present their research at on-campus events and publish in the UoM undergraduate journal. Explore the UoM Works in Progress symposium, the UoM Student Research Forum, the UoM Lambuth Student Symposium, and UoM undergraduate journal QuaesitUM.
Psychology students also have the opportunity to present work at the Mid-South Psychology Conference each spring as well as at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. As well, some students attend professional conferences alongside the faculty with whom they work.
UoM SGA provides limited assistance to students for travel to conferences and symposia. SGA travel funds are awarded as a reimbursement after the travel is completed. Priority deadlines to apply for funding are early each semester. For deadlines, how to apply, and further details, please visit the SGA Travel Funding page.
A thesis provides a unique opportunity for students to learn from faculty mentors in an individualized setting. Students are led by mentors to complete a piece of experimental research of interest to both the student and professor. The two-semester project begins with 3 credit hours (PSYC 4504 or 4506) of an independent Directed Research course under the tutorship of a faculty mentor. The thesis culminates the next semester with 3 additional credit hours (PSYC 4994 - 4999) to complete the final thesis product.
The thesis project will typically consist of an empirical data-collection study that is conducted by the undergraduate student in collaboration with the mentor and his/her laboratory participants. In some cases where large data sets have previously been collected, or in which the student could not collect the type of data needed, the project may be carried out on existing data. In this case the student should be heavily involved in the data analysis and thoroughly understand the procedures used. Whichever type of project is chosen, the student should contribute creatively to the research. A high standard of intellectual engagement and time commitment is expected throughout the two-semester sequence.
The purpose of the thesis is to learn the process of conducting research in psychology. Students will learn how to (1) read and evaluate the research literature; (2) derive and state hypotheses; (3) collect and/or organize data using accepted methodologies; (4) analyze data using appropriate statistical techniques; (5) draw logical conclusions from data analysis; (6) relate these conclusions to the research literature; and (7) present a thesis orally and in writing. These goals may be achieved regardless of whether the thesis produces statistically significant support for the stated hypotheses or makes an original contribution to the research literature.
Students considering a thesis should discuss this with a faculty member who conducts research of interest to them. Ideally, this will happen by the junior year. Students who are unsure if they would like to pursue a thesis in a particular area may consider volunteering in a faculty member's lab to learn more about research In their area.
Students will need the following forms and information:
The University of Memphis houses the Neuroscience Techniques and Research Training (NeuroSTART) Program for Undergraduates (NSF Award #2051105). The program is part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Awards to Stimulate and Support Undergraduate Research Experiences (ASSURE) Program funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).
Qualifications to Participate
Undergraduate students interested in neuroscience from the greater Memphis area who will be rising juniors or seniors at the start of the program (May 15th each year) are eligible to apply.
We are particularly interested in underrepresented racial and ethnic minority and/or first-generation college student applicants.
Description of Experience
Over the course of two-semesters, students accepted into the program will receive a competitive stipend for 10-20 hours/week of participation.
Students will complete all phases of an empirical research project under the mentorship of a behavioral neuroscience faculty member.
Students will also prepare and present a “mock defense” of their project, present their work at a national conference [e.g., Society for Neuroscience (SfN)], and write and submit a manuscript summarizing their project to a peer-reviewed neuroscience journal.
Students will also join other neuroscience researchers in a series of monthly seminars to:
promote career development and training of responsible conduct in research (RCR)
hear neuroscience-related talks from guest speakers as well as current faculty and graduate students (Cajal Club)
partake in important discussions about equity and inclusion in academia and society (Welcoming Diversity seminar)
Students will also participate in a two-day retreat to prepare for the process of applying to graduate schools.
While NeuroSTART is not taking applications at this time, Dr. Helen Sable (hjsable@memphis.edu) and Dr. Deranda Lester (dbrewer@memphis.edu) encourage you to contact them with questions about the program.