Undergraduate Education
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Stanford Summer Research Program in Biomedical Sciences
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The School of Medicine offers many opportunities for undergraduates to receive training in the classroom and in the laboratory. In the classroom, we offer many courses that are specifically targeted to undergraduates as well as many graduate level courses where advanced undergraduates with a strong background in the life sciences are most welcome.
Among our offerings are a large number of Stanford Introductory Seminars (for freshmen and sophomores). Interested students are encouraged to peruse the complete list of these offerings at: http://www.stanford.edu/group/introsems/.
Upper division courses can be found in the School of Medicine's section of the University Bulletin. These courses represent an opportunity for students with a real passion in a particular area to gain a first-hand experience of learning from the primary literature, typically with small discussion groups that focus on critical discussion of recently published papers.
One of our most important contributions to the undergraduate experience at Stanford, is providing an opportunity to do world-class biomedical research. The School of Medicine has a well-earned reputation for technical innovation and then applying these new methods to solving some of the most challenging problems in the life sciences. We don't do this in isolation and there are countless collaborations between labs in the School and other groups at the University in Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences and even the Schools of Business and Law! This collaborative spirit is best embodied in the recently opened Clark Center which is the home to Bio-X (so called because you can substitute just about anything for X and there are teams of researchers in Clark doing it!).
Undergraduates interested in gaining a first-hand research experience in School of Medicine labs should first be sure they have at least some grounding in the theoretical basis of the work they will be doing. Then they should browse the descriptions of research going on in the School to find those that most interest them. A good place to begin is Community Academic Profiles (CAP) where key-word searches can quickly lead to faculty with active programs in that area.Another excellent source is the on-line brochure describing the graduate programs where brief descriptions of each program and the participating faculty are given. While these are intended primarily for prospective PhD students, the information is conveniently grouped by discipline and makes for fascinating browsing. And, finally, there are individual Department, Center and Institute listings which present detailed descriptions of the work going on in the many physical and "virtual" groupings of faculty that criss-cross throughout the School (and out into all corners of the University). These are available here.
Once a short list has been assembled, students should contact the individual faculty they have identified to set up a time when they can meet and discuss areas of mutual interest. Needless to say, this should be done well in advance to be maximize the chances that space and funds will be available. And speaking of funds, credit and/or financial support often are available! Interested students are encouraged to contact the Undergraduate Research Program for details on the many resources available to them from the office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.
We are proud of the contribution of the School of Medicine to undergraduate training at Stanford and look forward to continuing to have many such students counted among our ranks in years to come. It is an exciting environment and an opportunity to be part of an enterprise that is helping to define the future in biomedicine.