With funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Washington Research Foundation, the Mary Gates Endowment, and other sources, FHL is pleased to offer paid research training opportunities for undergraduates and postbaccalaureates. The program's parameters:
Intensive
research training experience, 15 undergraduate credits from
University of Washington.
$3000 in
support provided by FHL to each research apprentice enrolled in a 15-credit apprenticeship at Friday Harbor Labs.
($1200 in support provided to students enrolled in the 6-credit
Marine Benthic Ecology apprenticeship, offered in conjunction with the Spring ZooBot Quarter, described below.) FHL support will be provided only
to apprentices living in the FHL dorms.
Live and
work at Friday Harbor Laboratories, world-renowned marine science research
facility on 484-acre biological preserve, San Juan Island, Washington (75
miles northwest of Seattle).
Excellent
student/faculty ratio: Each team of 5-12 students led by 1-2 faculty mentors
plus 1-2 RAs (grad students or post-docs).
Intensive, full-time research training experiences are offered to qualified undergraduates and post-baccalaureates in Spring and Autumn quarters. One to four teams of 5-12 students each work on one focused research problem guided by a group of faculty, postdoctoral and graduate student mentors. Students selected for participation receive financial support ($3000) to defray costs of tuition, room and board at FHL.
There will be three options for Spring 2007 and four options for Autumn 2007. Applications are due on January 1 for Spring Quarter teams and July 1st for Autumn Quarter. Students will be registered for 15 credits. Students should consult with their advisor prior to registration.
"This award recognizes a program that gives University of Washington undergraduates a research experience of unique intensity, focus and independence. The Friday Harbor formula - three months at a superb marine biology field station, small research teams, dedicated faculty mentors - changes students' lives and launches careers in research."
Applications are welcome from undergraduates or post-baccalaureates from any academic institution. Applicants do not need to be currently enrolled at the University of Washington or at any other university or college. See Application Information for further details.
There have been nearly 400 Research Apprentices at Friday Harbor Laboratories since the program inception in 1999.
In a survey of all past Research Apprentices, 94% rated the value of the program to their career as "Excellent" or "Very Good."
"These apprenticeship courses are fantastic. They allow the student to actually participate in scientific research and show us the way to learn more than we had thought possible in one quarter."
"I would not trade the experience for anything. It changed how I view science completely."
"I learned how to collaborate with a group and work independently, gained experience in various scientific techniques and wrote my first scientific paper."
"I am so glad I had the opportunity to come here, it is the highlight of my year and something I never could have imagined beforehand. I feel privileged to have studied here."
"I learned about research by doing research . . . the best way!"
"This is an ideal place to study, live and research."
"I was expecting intense research, and it was definitely intense, but it was fun too."
"This was the most learning I have done yet in college. Keep this program!"
"Lots of hands-on experience, research and technology. Small class size and individual attention."
"This was one of the best ... OK ... THE best class I have ever taken. I learned a ton!"
"My experience at Friday Harbor will be something I will never forget. It was excellent ... a wonderful opportunity to have as an undergraduate."
"I learned an incredible amount of information this quarter in the most exciting new way."
"A wonderful and inspirational introduction to research!"
"It was an incredible experience ... It gave me the passion to stick with biology - the real work is not out of a textbook and my time at FHL really made that clear."
"I really can do independent research!"
"The facilities were fantastic as well. It was incredible to be permitted to use such powerful instruments to accomplish our tasks."
"With the small class size I was able to interact with the professors and RAs at a level I've never known before."
"Just an absolutely amazing experience - and fun!"
"These apprenticeship programs truly give students a taste of what research is like ... I am no longer intimidated by what graduate school involves, nor as scared of professors."
"I have learned so much and had a great time doing it."
"Great facilities, nice community, beautiful location, all the equipment!"
"The community at FHL has been a wonderful part of this experience. Living with people who love science and come to science with different backgrounds and perspectives has been wonderful. I have never been involved in a course I have loved so much and in which I have learned so much."
"It was great to have so much personal attention in this small group ... Gained great experience in giving presentations and presenting scientific papers ... I am proud of what I have learned and achieved."
"I consider my experience at FHL to be the most valuable of my academic career."
Co-registration is required in the Marine Zoology / Marine Botany courses at Friday Harbor Labs, as part of the "ZooBot Quarter" at FHL. Click here to learn more about the ZooBot quarter.
Spring Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
March 26 - June 2, 2007 - 10 weeks
Biology 499 (6 credits)
Co-registration in Biology 430 (5 credits) and Biology 445 (5 credits) is
required, for a total of 16 credits.
Dr. Kenneth P. Sebens
Department of Biology - University of Washington
Dr. Megan Dethier
Department of Biology - University of Washington
The Marine Benthic Ecology (MBE) apprenticeship is designed to accompany the Marine Zoology and Marine Botany courses. MBE apprentices will receive a stipend of $1200, not $3000.
Meeting times: All quarter, integrated with Biol 430 and
Biol 445; 5 days a week, all day, plus Saturday mornings.
This apprenticeship will take a broad approach to the study of the ecology
of intertidal organisms. Apprentices will learn basic marine ecological principles
through lectures and readings, receive a primer in ecological sampling design
and statistics, and study the natural history of shoreline organisms on field
trips. Each student will select an independent research topic to perform in
the field, laboratory, or both; examples include interactions between introduced
seaweeds and native herbivores, the adaptive significance of morphological
variation in marine invertebrates, variation in rates of recruitment of juvenile
clams onto beaches. The apprenticeship will be integrated with the Marine Zoology/Botany
program; students must register for all three. Enrollment limited to 15 students.
Learning Objectives and Skills
At the end of this apprenticeship (and the two concurrent integrated biology
courses), apprentices will be able to:
Have a firm basic understanding of nearshore marine ecology
Ask interesting and answerable ecological questions
Recognize the common local intertidal marine organisms, and be able to key
out less common ones correctly
Design an ecological experiment in a statistically valid fashion
Analyze, graph, and perform statistical analyses on ecological data
Read primary marine literature and understand the concepts and methods
Use library resources in depth
Write a scientific paper, using appropriate format and concise language
Give a scientific presentation in front of a group of peers
Lecture topics
Local Oceanography
Physical factors in local habitats: rocky shores, sand, mud
Sampling design 101
Research resources: using Excel, Powerpoint, and Endnote
Stats 101
Natural history of key invert and algal groups
Ecological studies in local habitats: rocky shores, sand, mud, marshes
Processes:
Herbivory
Competition
Predation
Disturbance and Succession
Dispersal and Recruitment
Population size structure
Flow and Feeding
Invasive species
Enrollment limited to 15 students. Co-registration in Marine Zoology / Marine Botany is required.
For additional information contact: mdethier@u.washington.edu
Spring Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
March 26 - June 2, 2007 - 10 weeks
Biology 499 (15 credits) or Fish 492 (15 credits)
Dr. Ellis Loew
Cornell University
Lyle Britt
University of Washington
It is expected that the visual system of an organism should be adapted for the visual tasks it must perform in a particular environment and at a particular developmental stage. For example, color vision capabilities may change during the life history of an organism. This shift is accomplished by changes in ocular and retinal structure, and changes in the characteristics of the primary photoreceptor cells. A series of introductory lectures and demonstration labs will prepare apprentices for the design of an original research project investigating the correlations between visual system characteristics and environmental, developmental and/or ecological factors in local marine organisms. To meet these goals, apprentices will learn a number of methodologies including:
Enrollment limited to 8 students.
For additional information contact erl1@cornell.edu or llbritt@u.washington.edu
Spring Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
March 26 - June 2, 2007 - 10 weeks
Biology 499 (15 credits)
Dr. Lynn Riddiford
University of Washington - Department of Biology
Dr. Jim Truman
University of Washington - Department of Biology
This apprenticeship focuses on the evolution of developmental mechanisms in arthropods, contrasting those of marine arthropods (crustaceans and pycnogonids) with their better known terrestrial cousins (the insects). We will offer a set of projects that involve a variety of cellular and molecular approaches to study the developmental processes that form the epidermis and the nervous system.
The molecular projects focus on the role of BTB/POZ domain transcription factors in life-history strategies. One of these genes, broad, is a key gene in directing the entry into metamorphosis in higher insects, such as moths and flies. Our recent studies on more basal, direct-developing insects, such as crickets and bugs, show that the ancestral condition is for broad to be expressed during embryogenesis and through most of nymphal life. Knock-down of endogenous broad levels by RNA interference (RNAi) approaches showed that this transcription factor has a “morphogenic action” in that in its absence developmental changes in the embryo or nymph are blocked. Hence, in basal insects it directs a progressive morphogenesis during nymphal growth whereas in the derived holometabolous group, the action of broad in promoting morphogenesis is delayed until the larval-pupal transition.
Considering the key role of broad in different life history strategies in insects, one would like to know its role in the crustaceans, the group from which insects likely arose. Students in previous apprenticeships showed that broad is present in the barnacle, Balanus nubilis, the first report of broad in a crustacean. Initial studies of the pattern of broad expression were then carried out on another barnacle, B. glandula, (as an example of a metamorphic crustacean) and in a direct developing species (the amphipod Apohyale pugettensis). Projects for the next apprenticeship will extend their studies on expression of broad in barnacles and amphipods using quantitative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and in situ hybridization. Students will also use RNAi approaches to reduce endogenous Broad levels to examine the function of this gene in metamorphic and direct developing crustaceans. They will also determine how methyl farnesoate [the crustacean juvenile hormone (JH)] that regulates cyprid metamorphosis in barnacles may regulate expression of broad, since in insects JH controls the developmental expression of broad.
The students will be exposed to techniques such as in situ hybridization, quantitative PCR, and endocrine manipulations of crustacean embryos and larvae.
The cellular projects will focus on nervous system development, with special emphasis on the origin and development of the limb motoneurons. Insects and crustaceans show a similar mechanism of generating their segmental neurons, using a stereotyped set of neuronal stem cells, termed neuroblasts (of which there are 31/hemisegment). Arachnids and myriapods, by contrast, generate their neurons by in-pocketing regions of the epidermis, and cells within the pocket are transformed into neurons. Interestingly, the number of “pits” in a hemisegment (30) in spiders is close to the number of neuroblasts seen in insects and crustaceans. Our recent work in Drosophila shows that the great majority of limb motoneurons (>80%) come from a single stem cell. This is likely to be the case throughout the insects. We want to know if this is also true in crustaceans (such as amphipods). Similarly, in chelicerates, such as pycnogonids, do the limb motoneurons come primarily from a single pit? If this is the case, then the instructions for generating an arthropod ganglion may be older than the adoption of a particular mode of neurogenesis.
The students will employ techniques of nerve tracing (using DiI and HRP (horseradish peroxidase) backfilling), birthdating (using BrdU [bromodeoxyuridine] incorporation) and various types of immunocytochemistry and microscopy (bright-field, fluorescence, and confocal). Amphipods will be examined during embryogenesis. The sea spiders [pycnogonids] will be examined during larval growth, because they add a pair of legs (and the corresponding regions of the CNS) sequentially as they molt through juvenile stages, until reaching the adult complement of 4 pairs.
The course will be primarily focused on individual laboratory projects of the student’s own choosing based on the introductory lectures given the first week, discussions with the instructors and RAs, and some directed reading once they begin to narrow down their interest. We find that it is best if they begin working on two different angles of a problem or even two diverse projects at the beginning to see which is more tractable and interesting. We also have a Saturday morning debriefing session in which the students present their hypotheses and their experimental approaches and what has been done during the past week. These sessions are good for trouble shooting and keeps the group together despite diverse projects. This continual practice in presenting their material in an understandable fashion to the group both forces them to keep analyzing their data and to think about a series of diverse problems as well as to increase their confidence in public presentation.
Enrollment limited to 8 students.
For additional information contact lmr@u.washington.edu or jwt@u.washington.edu
Autumn Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
September 24 - December 8, 2007 - 11 weeks
Biol 499
(15 credits)
Dr. Kenneth P. Sebens
University of Washington
Dr. David Duggins
University of Washington
Dr. Kevin Britton-Simmons
University of Washington
Scientific studies in rocky intertidal habitats have generated and tested ecological theory for decades and those habitats have proven to be ideal for experimentation. Rocky subtidal habitats have many of the same advantages, but they require an additional research tool: SCUBA diving. Diving-based research is necessary to better understand the biology of subtidal marine organisms and the ecology of their communities, but there are often too few opportunities for undergraduates to get formal training in how to conduct underwater research.
In this course students will:
FHL is uniquely sited and equipped for this course because of its proximity to field sites and its excellent SCUBA and boating facilities. This includes UW Biological Preserves on San Juan and Shaw Islands, with substantial unstudied subtidal locations. Many of these habitats have experienced substantial declines in fish and selected invertebrate populations over the past three decades or longer. There is a history of diving research at FHL going back to the first decades of SCUBA, and a wealth of information from published and unpublished research that can form the basis of new and ongoing studies. The instructors for this course have considerable experience carrying out a wide variety of SCUBA-based research projects, and have excellent knowledge of the biology of local systems, collectively spanning the last 3.5 decades.
Examples of possible research projects:
Prerequisites: Students must be certified SCUBA divers with open water experience (at least 20 open water dives) and they must provide their own cold water SCUBA equipment (including a dry suit or heavy wet suit).
Recommended: Courses in invertebrate zoology, phycology, and fish biology.
CPR, first aid, and oxygen first aid training will be available during the course.
Enrollment limited to 8 apprentices. For additional information contact: aquaman@u.washington.edu or dduggins@u.washington.edu
Autumn Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
September 24 - December 8, 2007 - 11 weeks
Ocean 499
(15 credits)
Dr. Jan Newton
University of Washington
Dr. Breck Tyler
University of California, Santa Cruz
The primary research objective of this course is to investigate the physical-biological coupling of oceanographic processes and biota in the San Juan Archipelago. This work is timely and important for several reasons:
In order to understand the functioning of the Basin's complex ecosystem, it is essential to determine which processes are predominant in shaping the physical environment. These will also determine directly the habitat available for prey and predator species. If these elements can be linked, it will be possible in the future to assess the status of regional biota by means of remote observing systems.
The primary educational goals of this course are to have apprentices examine the workings of a marine ecosystem from top to bottom in order to understand how coupling with oceanographic processes leads to spatial and temporal variation in biotic patterning. We used the natural laboratory of the waters adjacent to San Juan Island to begin to explore the mechanisms responsible for variability in the region. We will focus on two study sites in San Juan Channel, one in the dynamic outer Channel (near Cattle Pass) and the other in the broad inner Channel (northern end). Specifically, apprentices will be asked to:
Instructors are an interdisciplinary team. Dr. Jan Newton for oceanography (physical and biological) and Dr. Breck Tyler for upper trophic levels (seabirds, marine mammals) will be the lead instructors. Dr. Terrie Klinger has agreed to participate on average once per week to contribute knowledge of benthos, larvae, and local processes. We will recruit a graduate student RA from School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences to cover fish. We also plan to pull in a broad spectrum of guest lecturers, including other oceanographers, zoologists, and local experts.
Enrollment limited to 12 apprentices.
For additional information contact: newton@apl.washington.edu
Autumn Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
September 24 - December 8, 2007 - 11 weeks
Biol 499 (15 credits)
Dr. Sally Woodin
University of South Carolina
Dr. David Wethey
University of South Carolina
Autumn Quarter, Research Apprenticeship
September 24 - December 8, 2007 - 11 weeks
Biology 499 (15 credits)
Faculty from the Center
for Cell Dynamics
"Our lives were immersed in science, meal times were filled with discussion about the day's results and new experiments in progress. Students from across the country joined us for brief periods, all with unique and interesting subjects of study."
"If you apply yourself, your time at FHL will be filled with a period of intense growth and development as well as advancement of your skills as a scientist. Working in the tight knit community will redefine your understanding of a team concept and open your eyes to the potential that a focused group with a singular goal can have.''
Many answers to questions about the Research Apprenticeship program can be found in the general FAQs and student FAQs. The following information refers specifically to the Research Apprenticeship program.
How is the financial support disbursed?
Each apprentice living on the FHL campus and participating in a 15-credit apprenticeship receives $3000 in support to help
defray their expenses for room & board at FHL and tuition.
NOTE: Research Apprentices do not need to request financial aid in order to receive the support awarded to all FHL Apprentices. Students may submit a request for financial aid if additional support is needed, but these awards are restricted to exceptional cases.
What are the expenses?
SPRING 2007:
$1995 tuition fees, 15-credits
$1586 FHL room & board
______
$ 3581 Subtotal
$ 3000 minus support from FHL
______
$ 581 Net cost to participant (excluding insurance costs
for international students)
AUTUMN 2007:
$ 2129 Tuition fees, 15-credits
$ 1586 FHL room & board*
______
$ 3715 Subtotal
$ 3000 minus support from FHL
______
$ 715 Net Cost to participant (excluding insurance costs for
international students)
Tuition rate for the 15-credit apprenticeships applies to all participants.
Different tuition rates apply for the FHL ZooBot Quarter participants.
See the FHL Student Cost webpage for additional information.
* Note: students may stay on campus during the Thanksgiving weekend, but generally the FHL Dining Hall will be closed on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), Fri, Sat, and Sun morning, reopening for Sunday dinner - cooking facilities made available to students during this closure.
TRANSCRIPTS: to receive a transcript for a course or apprenticeship completed at FHL, follow instructions provided at the following University of Washington web site: http://washington.edu/students/reg/transcripts.html#Q1
How can I learn more?
For additional information, please contact FHL Student Coordinator, Stacy Markman at
fhladmin@u.washington.edu or (206) 616-0753.
Application instructions >>
Review an article about the apprenticeship
program.
2006 Apprenticeship descriptions.
2005 Apprenticeship descriptions.
2004 Apprenticeship descriptions.
General Information