Interested in joining the BAELab?
Graduate Students
I mentor graduate students through the UMBC Biological Sciences program, and undergraduates from multiple departments via the BIOL 499 Directed Research course. Currently, I am not able to take Ph.D. students. Read here for information about the Biological Sciences graduate programs.
Undergraduate Students
I like to have undergraduate students attend weekly laboratory meetings for 2-6 months before enrolling in BIOL 499 or transitioning to a paid position with me. As we are an evolutionary biology laboratory, I prefer to recruit undergraduate students that have taken BIOL 140: Foundations of Biology: Ecology and Evolution, earned a ‘B’ grade or higher, have a 3.0 or higher GPA , and are interested in research in ecology, animal behavior, and/or genome evolution.
Students interested in healthcare careers would be better served by interning in a biomedical research laboratory, as the experience and skills gained in the BAELab do not apply directly to careers in these areas (here is the UMBC Biological Sciences faculty research directory to see the breadth of biology research conducted at UMBC). Once part of any lab, students spend a significant number of hours dedicated to research (ex. 1 credit of BIOL 499 Directed Research is equivalent to 5 hours/week) – you should plan for that time to benefit your future medical, graduate, or professional school applications. Please do not misrepresent your career aspirations in order to gain a lab position – hobby interest in arthropods is not equivalent to research interest.
High School Students
Due to funding and space limitations, I am not recruiting high school interns for the lab at this time.
If you are interested in joining the lab, please send an email to Dr. Burns at burnsm [at] umbc [dot] edu, responding to the following questions:
- What is your name and expected graduation date?
- What are your career plans and research interests? If your career goals are focused on human health, which skills do you hope to gain in this lab that relate to these goals?
- Have you done research before? If so, please tell us a bit about it! If not, it is by no means required.
- Have you worked with arthropods in any capacity before? Or, with animals in general? (Experience also not required!)
- Will you be comfortable and confident regularly handling non-venomous arachnids?
Contact information
Mercedes Burns
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
ILSB 215, 1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250
E-mail: burnsm [at] umbc [dot] edu
Office: +1-410-455-2147