We encourage all science-minded undergraduates to engage in research and to develop critical thinking skills. In our lab, undergraduate researchers make significant contributions and develop skills to work independently on projects that relate to the lab’s research directions.
To work productively in our lab, you will need enthusiasm, motivation, and dedication, as well as the ability to think critically and work responsibly. We have a limited number of mentored spaces available, and new additions to the lab will be based on qualifications and best fit to the available project(s). Wet bench projects benefit from prior lab experience or demonstrated success in lab coursework; while computational projects benefit from past experience with coding or bioinformatics analysis packages.
Because we work with a human pathogen, we add new undergraduates to the lab only under mentored supervision. Limited full time summer research positions are available, and undergraduates work 6-15 hours a week during the semester. Long-term participation in the lab comes with the territory — it takes months to learn what we do, and that long or longer to learn the craft of research.
We encourage active participation in scientific communication as part of the lab. Undergraduates attend and present at group meeting, give journal club presentations, and present their work in public forums such as poster sessions, undergraduate research fairs, and campus retreats. We encourage undergraduates to work toward a capstone project or an honors thesis as part of the Honors College. Undergraduates are encouraged to seek independent funding and outside review of their projects, such as the Penn State Undergraduate Summer Discovery Grants.
If you have further questions about undergraduate research in our lab, please contact Dr. Moriah Szpara. Interested students can apply through the formal BMB 496 application process.
Publications with undergraduate authors (in bold):
- A wide extent of inter-strain diversity in virulent and vaccine strains of alphaherpesviruses
ML Szpara, YR Tafuri, L Parsons, SR Shamim, KJ Verstrepen, M Legendre, LW Enquist – PLoS Pathogens
Scholarships and awards won by undergraduates in our lab:
- Ellie Kim 2023 Goldwater Scholar
- Ellie Kim 2022 Astronaut Scholar
- Ellie Kim 2020 Student Engagement Network Award
- Bridget Lunney 2019 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Award
- Alyssa Powers 2019 Penn State Student Engagement Network Award
- Harrison Weidner 2019 Pennsylvania Space Grant Undergraduate Research program (WISER|MURE|FURP)
- Kokila Shankar 2015 Eberly College of Science Undergraduate Research Support Award
- Nathan Arnett 2015 Eberly College of Science Undergraduate Research Support Award
- Chris Sharkey 2014 Penn State Summer Discovery Grant
- Nathan Arnett 2014 Eberly College of Science Undergraduate Research Support Award