Gorman Circadian Research Lab
Undergraduate research in the Gorman Lab
My lab owes a tremendous debt to the efforts of countless undergrads over the past several years. Students may work in my lab with two different levels of commitment.
In the first category are students who just want to check things out or help out on various projects in return for credit in Psych 199. They are generally only committing to work for a given quarter, although they very often choose to continue. If you are interested in this possibility, you should contact me well in advance of when you might wish to start (like 1-2 quarters!) because we plan our experiments long in advance and line up help accordingly. Often, I cannot take on as many students as are interested.
I prefer to take undergrad students who will commit for a longer period of time and/or who want to participate in our psychology honors program (students have also received credit in Biology). I work with these students to develop their own projects which they see through to completion, including publication (although in some cases this happens after they've graduated from UCSD). On the research page, the papers by Frank et al. (2010), Rosenthal et al. (2005), Evans and Gorman (2002), Piatowska et al., (2001) and Gorman and Steele (2005) are all examples of complete student projects. I cannot guarantee a publication, but I can make sure that you work on a project that SHOULD be significant enough to warrant publication.
What can undergrads do in my lab?
Learn about clocks and biological timing
Learn surgical skills
Learn really hard thinking skills (this may not be pleasant!)
Find out about the research process, graduate school, the wider scientific world
Hang out with a really good group of people. The lab is a great place to interact in a friendly way with people of different ages, backgrounds, and expertise working towards common goals.
Prospective 199 students should click on the link above, fill out the form, and turn it into the Psychology Department located on the first floor of Mandler Hall. Additional information can be found by visiting the UCSD Psychology website at psy.ucsd.edu
Graduate research in the Gorman Lab
Please contact me by phone 858-822-2466 or by email (mgorman@ucsd.edu) to learn more about me, the lab, our graduate programs and UCSD. UCSD has a wealth of expertise in biological rhythms research at molecular, cellular, organismal, behavioral and medical levels of analysis. Opportunities for neuroscience research are essentially unlimited here.
~Michael Gorman
