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The answer to this question depends on the needs of specific faculty mentors, but it is not a hard “no”. Due to the demands of their research, some faculty mentors can only work with students who have taken some advanced classes. Faculty mentors should share any prerequisite requirements with you when you meet with them to learn about possible projects. That being said, several students have successfully obtained an SSR stipend for the summer after their first year over the past years. Suppose you are a first-year student wishing to get research experience through the SSR program. In that case, you are encouraged to reach out to multiple faculty mentors rather than focus on a single “research area” to have better chances of finding an opportunity.

Bryn Mawr STEM department websites contain lists of faculty members, their emails, and links to their lab websites. Visit these sites to learn more about your potential mentors’ research. After that, reach out to the Bryn Mawr STEM faculty in the department(s) you wish to work with (email is one easy way to do so) and schedule a 30-minute meeting to discuss the possibility of working in their lab in summer. During that meeting, you will learn about the availability of projects you could get involved in; what you learn in this meeting will be excellent material for your Research Statement.

Some questions you could ask during the meeting are:

• In what field of [chemistry, biology…] are the current projects in your lab?
• Given my coursework and interest in […], what projects can I work on in your lab?
• Do I need to have completed specific courses to work in your lab?
• What literature can I read to learn more about the project?
• Is research in your lab conducted remotely or in person?
• How do I improve my chances of working in your lab as part of the SSR program? Do you prefer to take students who work with you during the academic year? If so, do you currently have openings?
• How likely am I to secure a spot in your lab? Do you recommend I apply for the SSR program to work with you?

Some departments offer a talk at the beginning of the spring semester during which faculty members give a short presentation of their research and provide important information (such as how many students they need in summer). If your department of interest provides such a talk, attending it is very useful as it will help you learn about research opportunities and figure out which potential faculty mentors to contact. Information about these talks will be posted here when they become available.

• Biology faculty
• Chemistry faculty
• Computer Science faculty
• Geology faculty
• Mathematics faculty
• Physics faculty
• Psychology faculty

Absolutely! Many successful SSR students establish excellent professional relationships with their faculty mentors—as a result, the faculty mentors strongly desire to work with these students again during the next summer. Students must reapply to the program each year.

Your potential faculty mentor will probably be quite excited as they describe their research to you during the meeting—after all, this is their bread and butter! However, multiple students apply to a limited number of lab spots each year, and accommodating everyone is not always possible.