Faculty committee: Brian Chabot, chair

The Research Honors Program in Biology & Society is designed to provide independent research opportunities for academically talented undergraduate students in biology & society. Students who enroll in this program are expected, with faculty guidance, to do independent study and research dealing with issues in biology and society. Students participating in the program should find the experience intellectually stimulating and rewarding whether or not they intend to pursue a research career.

Biology & Society students are considered for entry into the research honors program at the end of the second semester of the junior year. Application forms for the program are available in the Biology & Society office, 306 Rockefeller Hall. To qualify for the Biology & Society Research Honors Program, a student must have an overall Cornell cumulative GPA of at least 3.3, have formulated a research topic, and have found a project supervisor (with a Cornell academic appointment) and a Biology & Society faculty member willing to serve as his or her advisor. The director of undergraduate studies will appoint a third reader of the completed research thesis. Applications will be reviewed by a committee headed by the director of undergraduate studies, who will notify students directly of the outcome. Students will be permitted to register for the research honors program only by permission of the biology & society program. Students must enroll for two semesters for 4 credits each in BSOC, ALS, or HE 4991–4992, Honors Project I and II. More information on the honors program is available in the Biology & Society office, 306 Rockefeller Hall (255-6047).

Important Deadlines

Note: If the following dates fall on a weekend, the deadline is the preceding Friday.

• Last week of second semester of the junior year: Application for honors program submitted to 306 Rockefeller Hall.

• April 11: Thesis completed in a form satisfactory for evaluation and submitted to the three readers.

• April 25: Thesis defense accomplished.

• May 9: Two bound copies of completed and defended thesis submitted to director of undergraduate studies.

Students may volunteer to submit electronically to the honors committee chair a copy of their final approved thesis (in pdf or Word format) for Mann Library. Mann Library has given CALS the opportunity to have theses available to the public electronically if this does not interfere with other plans, such as patenting or publishing in another journal. A permission form to allow the thesis to be made available online at Mann Library can be obtained from the honors committee chair.

In addition, students are required to submit electronically to the honors committee chair their thesis title, research advisor’s name, and abstract (in Word format). During each summer, the CALS Research Honors Abstracts publication is published (on the web beginning 2009) as a compilation of research honors thesis abstracts.