BIOS accepting applications for 25-26 Postbac TA Fellows
Are you interested in research? Would you like to get more research experience after you graduate? The Department of Biological Sciences at UIC is calling for applications to its PostBac TA Fellowship Program. This two-semester program is designed to provide fellows with valuable research and teaching experience, to facilitate their transition to graduate school and/or a research-focused career.
As a PostBac TA fellow, you will spend half your time TAing an undergraduate course in biological sciences at UIC, and the other half of your time conducting research in a laboratory within the Department of Biological Sciences. The fellowship provides you with the same financial support as a first-year graduate student at UIC. You will even get credit for your research, by participating in BIOS 597, tuition-free.
There are two types of students who can apply for the program:
1. Students who have already spent time conducting research in a Dept. of Biological Sciences lab, and who would like to continue this research after they graduate.
2. Students who have no research experience, or research experience outside of the Dept. of Biological Sciences, but would like to gain additional research experience in the department.
In order to be eligible for the 2025/26 program you must graduate with a degree in Biological Sciences or a related discipline by Spring 2025 or before, and have a GPA of greater than 2.8.
Applying to the program is simple. All you need to do is provide the following:
1. A letter of interest, which includes your long-term career goal and three courses (in order of preference) that you are prepared to TA (you can find a list of courses at: https://catalog.uic.edu/ucat/course-descriptions/bios/.
2. A short (~1 page) description of the research you would conduct during the fellowship. This should be crafted in collaboration with your faculty mentor.
3. Your CV, including a statement that you will graduate May 2025 or before.
4. A copy of your transcript.
5. A letter of support from your faculty mentor in the Dept. of Biological Sciences.
Applicants who have no research experience, or research experience outside of the department, will need to identify and secure the support of a faculty mentor before applying. A number of faculty are available to mentor PostBac fellows. Applicants will need to contact individual faculty and work with them to develop a research project that can be conducted during their fellowship. These faculty are:
Chieh Chang
Chiou-Fen Chuang
Kevin Drew
Igncaio Escalante Meza
Miquel Gonzalez-Meler
Jarrad Hampton-Marcell
Boris Igic
Jeremy Lynch
Gabriela Nunez Mir
Rachel Poretsky
Angeles Salles
Alexander Shingleton
Eric Stabb
Joe Walker
Katherine Warpeha
Joseph Zak
Applications should be emailed as a single PDF to Alexander Shingleton (ashingle@uic.edu) by end-of-day Friday, February 21. Questions about the program can also be emailed to ashingle@uic.edu.