BCES Research & Grants
Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science

Clockwise from top left: Northern students and professors at the NM-INBRE Conference in Santa Fe, March, 2016, and NM-AMP Conference, Las Cruces, October, 2015.
At Northern, providing undergraduate student research opportunities has become a priority for many of the College’s STEM disciplines. Students can participate in original research projects including paid summer fellowships made possible by funding (in part) through:
- The Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP)
- The annual National Institutes of Health (NIH) NM-INBRE (New Mexico IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence) network via NMSU,
- The NIH "BUILDing SCHOLARS network via UTEP
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
These research and grant opportunities allow students to work alongside experienced faculty and fellow students in Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences and other STEM programs to present and compete at international conferences, and to prepare for graduate and career opportunities. Scholarships are available.
Simultaneously, we encourage and prepare students to compete for external research summer positions. In the past our students have participated in summer research experiences in Universities such as Michigan State, Iowa State, Illinois Institute of Technology and the New Mexico Consortium.
Our Biology program had allowed students to participate in local, National and International Meetings and Conferences where they presented their research in a poster presentation. The Annual Plant Biology, SACNAS, ABRCMS, and the ASCB are the most common choices among students. Hands-on experiences are essential for students preparing for graduate school and are one of the most effective ways to enjoy and learn science.
Departmental Research intersects the following areas:
- Neurobiology
- Behavioral biology
- Ecology and Evolutionary biology
- Cell biology and Genetics
- Molecular biology and Genomics