Research Rotations for Basic Biomedical Science Students
The information outlined below is not all-inclusive. Please familiarize yourself with all of the requirements as outlined in the Student Handbook
Promote rotation opportunities
If you have thesis funding available and wish to promote research rotation opportunities, you should create a listing for inclusion in the rotation information site. This is the main source students use to find rotations. Should you need to edit a current listing, please email Tricia Doane.
The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences also organizes faculty research presentations each fall to help faculty promote opportunities available to students. Faculty flash talks allowing both onsite and remote participation were successfully held for academic year 2021-2022.
Rotation requirements for faculty & students
The research rotation is a graded, credited course that requires commitment from both student and faculty.
For each rotation, the student must provide the rotation faculty advisor (graduate faculty sponsoring the student’s rotation) and research group with a written report or an oral presentation of the rotation research. The selection of written or oral presentation, and the specifications for each, are at the discretion of the rotation advisor.
At the conclusion of each rotation, rotation advisors will receive a student performance evaluation to complete via OASIS. Evaluations should be completed within 2 weeks of the rotation's end and discussed with the student.
Rotation details and timelines
There are five Research rotation sessions – two each in the spring and fall semesters, and one in the Summer term. See academic calendar for exact start and end dates.
Most rotation sessions are eight weeks long, with some variability in length to accommodate observed holidays and academic events.
Students are required to rotate in three distinct research groups in the first three Rotation Sessions (Fall Session 1, Fall Session 2, and Spring Session 1).
After completing three distinct rotations, the student has the following options:
- Secure a Thesis Research Commitment and begin thesis research.
- Rotate in a fourth research group.
- Return to a prior rotation for a revisit, without securing a commitment.
Students who worked in paid or unpaid research settings at UMass Chan prior to matriculation, including students in the PREP program, are not permitted to rotate with their previous mentor prior to the third rotation session, following two rotations in other distinct areas of research.
The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences provides financial support for all students through the entirety of their first academic year, regardless of when a student commits to a thesis research group.
Thesis advisor funding begins on September 1 of the student's second year.