68% of Bioengineering majors have done research outside of a Berkeley course. By the end of their Berkeley career, 94% of BioE seniors have done research!
We think research is an invaluable experience for engineers. Many of our students find their own research opportunity by volunteering in a faculty laboratory. Others work through the established programs below, or during the summer at other institutions.
The Bioengineering Department offers an award for outstanding undergraduate research, The Dr. Thomas Budinger Bioengineering Exploration Award.
Many opportunities for research can through the College of Engineering’s student research pages, beehive.berkeley.edu.
Some other applicable programs are:
UC Berkeley Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program, research during the school year.
QB3 Undergraduate Research Biotech Internship Program – summer industry internships.
Synthetic Biology Summer Research Program (iGEM) – stay tuned for recruitment announcements
Amgen and Genentech Scholars Undergraduate Summer Research Program in Sciences and Biotechnology.
Pre-IMSD Summer Research, summer research in biomedicine, environmental health, behavioral sciences, pre-PhD.
UCSF Summer Research Training Program for undergraduates
Other research opportunities can be found on the Undergraduate Research at Berkeley website.
Past Program – Summer Biodesign Immersion Experience – ended in 2022
Funding Opportunities
There are many ways to get funding for your research. Many professors are able to provide supplies and equipment through their research funding, and some are able to hire students as part-time lab employees. There are also grants available to provide travel funds to attend research conferences.
Other programs across campus are able to provide a stipend to student researchers for summer or academic year research. Many of the programs above provide stipends. More money can sometimes be obtained through a grant or fellowship. Good luck!
Getting Published
Getting published is a great addition to your resume or CV application. One way might be to co-author a paper with your research mentor about your research project, for a scholarly journal. There are other publications dedicated to student research:
Berkeley Scientific
Berkeley Scientific is the undergraduate research journal of the University of California at Berkeley.
The American Journal of Undergraduate Research (AJUR)
A national, independent, faculty peer-reviewed, open-source, quarterly, multidisciplinary student research journal.