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Application to Join a Research Group

Application to Join a Research Group

For those of you who wish to participate in research through the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, please follow this procedure:

1.  Arrange to speak with at least two faculty members with whom you might be interested in working.  Choices include, but are not necessarily limited to:

Alphabetical Listing of Faculty 
(1)   Peter Collings (Physics): liquid crystals and molecular aggregation
(2)   Brad Davidson (Biology): developmental biology
(3)   Alison Holliday: analytical chemistry
(4)   Kathleen Howard: biophysical chemistry
(5)   Nick Kaplinsky (Biology): plant molecular genetics
(6)   Stephen Miller: biochemistry
(7)   Josh Newby: physical chemistry
(8)   Chris Vecsey (Biology): neurobiology
(9)   Kevin Welch: inorganic and organometallic
(10) Liliya Yatsunyk: bioinorganic chemistry

2.  Based on your conversations with faculty, examination of research posters and discussions with current research students pick a first choice, second choice and third choice faculty research group.

3.  Think about your availability for working in a research lab.  You will be given an opportunity to select Spring semester 2014,  10-week research session for Summer 2014 or the 2014-2015 academic year.

NOTE:  Honors majors in Chemistry and Biochemistry are required to complete a research thesis as one of their Honor Preparations.  Completing an Honors thesis typically involves 0.5 credits of research during the junior year Spring, a full summer of research between the junior and senior years, and two credits of research during the senior year.

4.  Download an unofficial PDF copy of your transcript from MySwarthmore.  You will be asked to upload this as part of your online application procedure.

5.  Follow this link to the online application form for joining a research group.  You will be asked to login using your Swarthmore username and password to access the application.   

 https://swarthmore.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0rmMGarmcijXe73

You must complete the online application by Friday December 6th at Noon. 

Assignment of Students to Research Groups

Chemistry/Biochemistry faculty members meet as a group to look over all the submitted applications in December.  You will receive feedback about the availability of research positions after that meeting has taken place.   The Biology and Physics departments have a different schedule for research group placements so please contact faculty members in those departments directly for information.

If you have any questions, please contact the current department chair, Bob Paley at rpaley1.