The BRIN Undergraduate Fellowship program has been designed to be prestigious and highly selective. Undergraduate students will submit an application to be BRIN Undergraduate Fellows following the procedure established and approved by the BRIN Steering Committee at its initial meeting on November 16, 2001. The applications, transcripts, and requested information will be due on March 1 in the Vermillion BRIN office. Notification of selection for the summer program will take place prior to April 1.

Eligible for the fellowship are full-time degree seeking undergraduate students from one of our non-doctorate partner institutions: BHSU, Augustana, Mt. Marty, Dakota-Wesleyan University, Sisseton-Wahpeton College and OLC. Students from USD and SDSU are not eligible but there is a similar program for USD students funded by EPSCoR (Details [pdf]).

The Selection Committee (Barb Goodman, Holly Downing of BHSU, Maureen Diggins of Augustana, and Karen Olmstead of USD) chosen by the BRIN Steering Committee will be responsible for the selection process and prioritizing the applicants. While every effort will be made to ensure the compatibility of the undergraduate student with the research opportunity - the final decisions for appointment of the fellows to a laboratory will rest with the BRIN Steering Committee. The Selection Committee will prioritize the applicants based on the priorities of the BRIN program and eligibility guidelines for NIH training grants. If more than one student is interested in working in the same laboratory, mentoring faculty will be asked to choose their top candidate for the fellowship.

For more information on the BRIN Mentors and their research areas, look here.

The Selection Committee will look at the following criteria:

• The career interests of the student
• The importance of creating a critical mass of researchers on the partner campuses
• NIH/NCRR policy for BRIN award and training grants
• GPA - 3.0 overall unless special circumstances
• At least a semester of college completed
• Official transcripts from the college
• Repetition of students - open for multiple years - guidelines to be determined
• Research proposal - a brief paragraph describing proposed research project

NIH training grants provide the following guidelines:

Trainees must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the US, or must have been lawfully admitted for permanent residency ( i.e., in possession of the Alien Registration Receipt Card) at the time of the appointment. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible.