Opportunities for First-year Students
Undergraduate Research is for everyone—including you!
As a first-year student at Washington State University, there are many opportunities for you to engage in undergraduate research right from the start of your college experience. Picture yourself working side-by-side with renowned faculty and graduate students. You could impact the future of medicine, our ecosystem, products markets, and more in our region, the nation, and even the world!
A Future of Impact
Envision how your research at WSU will impact the future. You can engage in research in progressive fields and topics such as the following:
- Contribute to the development of infection resistant 3D-printed metals for surgical implants.
- Develop screening for obesity markers based on epigenetic signatures.
- Build a bioreactor to grow cancer-killing white blood cells for immunotherapy.
- Discover a protein that may hold the key to preventing tick-borne disease.
- Study how memories influence drug relapse and mechanisms for dampening the drug memories.
- Develop male contraception using a recently discovered gene.
Financial Support
Rather than working a part-time job, participate in undergraduate research that can also provide financial support. Some research programs will also help to amplify your qualifications for future educational opportunities. There are programs for first-year students, those who plan to go to graduate school in certain STEM disciplines, for members of underrepresented groups studying STEM topics.
Look into these programs, for a start – which one is right for you?
- Research Scholars
- STARS (the School of Molecular Biosciences’ Students Targeted toward Advanced Research Studies program)
- ESTEEMED MIRA (the NIH-funded Motivating Innovation and Research Achievement program)
- LSAMP (the NSF-funded Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program)
More Ideas
If you’re a first-year student and want to learn more about the WSU world of research, or if one of those programs isn’t right for you, check out additional resources such as:
- Univ 199 (Introduction to Directed Research, a 1-credit course)
- Peer mentors in the Office of Undergraduate Research