nurp
What is NURP?
The Neuroscience Undergraduate Reading Program (NURP) is a mentoring program supported by the Institute for Neuroscience (INS) and run by INS’s Neuroscience Graduate Student Association (NGSA).
NURP pairs undergraduate students majoring in neuroscience with graduate student mentors conducting neuroscience research in order to facilitate an in-depth, independent study. The program aims to help undergraduates learn material or gain skills that are not typically covered in standard undergraduate coursework through focused, specialized, one-on-one mentorship.
Projects culminate in a 15-minute presentation at the end of semester NURP Symposium, which gives the undergraduate mentees an opportunity to practice summarizing their work and presenting it to others.
When?
NURP is a semester-long program that is run every Fall & Spring semester. Application forms are sent out approximately two weeks into the semester, and mentor-mentee pairings are announced shortly after the application deadline. The program concludes with the end of semester NURP Symposium, which usually takes place during the week before final exams begin.
How to Apply?
Application forms are sent out approximately two weeks into the semester, after the add/drop deadline. They are sent to all undergraduate neuroscience majors, all INS graduate students, and graduate students in affiliated departments.
UNDERGRADUATES
Eligibility
Must be neuroscience majors
Preference will be given to students that have already taken NEU 330 (Neural Systems I) or its equivalent
Expectations
Meet with their mentor approximately once per week for about an hour
Spend 4-5 hours per week on NURP-related work
Give a 15 minute talk at the end of semester NURP symposium
Write a title and 150-300 word abstract for their symposium talk
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Eligibility
Any graduate student whose research is within the field of neuroscience is eligible to be a mentor. This includes but is not limited to graduate students in Neuroscience, Psychology, ICMB, EEB, Computer Science, and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.
Expectations
Meet with their student approximately once per week for about an hour
Prepare student to give a 15 minute talk at the end of the semester NURP symposium
Help student write a title and abstract for their talk
Attend the student talks at the end of the semester
Project Possibilities
NURP projects can range from reading through a series of articles about a particular topic to learning in detail about a technique, but are not limited to those options. NURP mentees have also written project proposals, analyzed existing data, programmed simulations, and conducted new experiments. Mentors and students will choose their projects together based on the student’s interests and the mentor’s interests and/or expertise. Ultimately, that collaboration can prompt mentors to branch into an area beyond their current research and prompt mentees to pursue a topic totally unfamiliar to them, allowing both to potentially discover new interests and career paths.
Example past project titles:
Why We Like to be Afraid: A Look Into Recreational Fear
The Next Phase of Alzheimer’s Research: Gamma Oscillations in the Hippocampus
A Review of the Hodgkin-Huxley Model
Optogenetic Manipulation of Mood and Emotion
The Use of Neural Networks in Brain-Machine Interfacing (BMI)
The Neurobiology Behind Addiction
Efficient Neural Computations of Sensory Stimuli
Benefits to Program Participants
Undergraduates are able to learn more about the experience of being a graduate student, the process of applying for and transitioning into graduate school, and the skills that graduate students need to develop. Meanwhile, graduate students are able to get experience mentoring a student independently, without firm guidelines or management by a principal investigator, allowing them to explore their unique mentorship style. Furthermore, all participants have the opportunity to expand their knowledge of neuroscience and to connect with someone that may end up being a colleague in the future.
Founding of NURP
Two UT undergraduate students, Rose Nguyen and Eszter Kish, submitted a proposal for the program in September 2015, inspired by a similar program in the mathematics department. NURP’s inaugural semester was Fall 2016, with INS graduate student Kathryn Bonnen serving as the first NURP Coordinator. The program has been run every semester since, now with NGSA’s Vice President also serving as NURP Coordinator.
