The College of Natural Sciences offers many opportunities for students to do research, including for academic credit. This includes participation in the FRI and ARI, as well as other opportunities to get course credit while doing research. Learn more about registering for research credit in Biochemistry, Biology, or Neuroscience and how you may be able to use this credit toward a Bioscience degree below.
Registering for Academic Credit
Research can be done as a volunteer, for course credit, or, in some cases, for pay. Students who intend to register for course credit for participation in an on-campus lab should follow these steps:
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Secure a research position in a lab. Not sure how to get started? CNS Experiential Learning has resources for getting involved in research on campus. Students are welcome to schedule an appointment with an Experiential Learning Ambassador to learn more.
- Check out the UT Eureka database for research projects on campus.
- Reference the college's research guide for your major.
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Check with your academic advisor about capstones. If you intend to use research credit as a capstone option in your Bioscience degree, check first with your academic advisor to verify you’re registering for the correct option. Not all research course numbers are approved to count as your capstone. Research projects that have not been previously approved may not fulfill your capstone requirement. There may be additional options beyond research credit to complete your capstone—check with your academic advisor.
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Fill out the online registration form and submit by 4 pm on the 4th class day of the semester. Registration forms with attached documentation and required signatures may be turned in during the early registration period, but must be submitted by the 4th class day deadline. Retroactive enrollment in a research course is not allowed.
Spring 2026 Research Registration Form
If registering for the research experience will place you in over 17 credit hours for the fall or spring semester, contact your assigned academic advisor to request going over the maximum hours limit.
Earning Credit
Students should discuss their specific lab responsibilities with their PI to earn appropriate credit, which may include any of the following:
- Attending lab meetings when possible
- Being supervised closely by a specific mentor (either the PI or another lab member)
- Maintaining a lab notebook documenting all lab work
- Submitting a 1-page document, minimum, to the PI that includes the following:
- Project goals, methods, results, and conclusions
- Revisions aided by the mentor
- Please note that the mentor sets length requirements; BCH 369K documents require a 6-page document
Number of Hours Per Week Required in a Lab
- To receive 3 hours of credit for a research course, a student should, at a minimum, be engaged in research 10 hours per week.
- To receive 2 hours of credit for a research course, a student should, at a minimum, be engaged in research 5 hours per week.
- To receive 1 hour of credit for a research course, a student should, at a minimum, be engaged in research 3 hours per week.
Maximum Hours of Graded Research
Regardless of what department the research course is listed with, students may take a maximum of six hours of research for a letter grade. All research courses taken beyond six hours will be taken on a pass/fail basis.
Petitioning Research Credit
Research credit automatically counts as an elective towards a student’s Bioscience degree. Students interested in petitioning for research credit toward a major requirement in a specific degree (typically a required upper-division lab) should begin the process by speaking with their assigned academic advisor. Not all degrees permit the option to petition for research credit toward a major requirement. Students and advisors should also be aware of the following general guidelines:
- Only 3-hour research courses taken for a letter grade will be considered
- As part of the petitioning process, students must provide the following to their academic advisor:
- A 1-page document, minimum, that includes project goals, methods, results, conclusions, and any revisions aided by the mentor (please note that the mentor sets the length requirements)
- An oral presentation and documented verification of the 1-page summary given either in a lab meeting and/or another public forum
- Presentations at the Spring Undergraduate Research Forum, Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium, or a venue outside of UT, such as a regional or national meeting, will all be considered
- Students should be guided by their mentor in the preparation and practice of the presentation
- Final approval for substitution of a required lab in a degree plan is at the discretion of the faculty advisor
Students are responsible for completing all requirements and documentation in a timely manner.
Additional Guidelines for Certain Majors
Please see additional guidelines for some Bioscience degrees below. For more information on how research can be petitioned in other degrees, please contact your assigned advisor.
BSA Biology in the 22-24 and 24-26 catalogs
In the 22-24 catalog, a student’s BIO 377 research petition must be related to the concentration the student is pursuing:
- Molecular, cell, and developmental biology
- Genetics, genomics, and computational biology
- Organismal biology and physiology
- Ecology, evolution, and biodiversity
In the 24-26 catalog, a student’s BIO 377 research petition must be related to the concentration the student is pursuing:
- Molecular, cell, and developmental biology
- Genetics, genomics, and computational biology
- Organismal biology and physiology
- Ecology, evolution, and biodiversity
- Microbiology and infectious disease
- Biochemistry
BIO 377 appears more than once in the list of approved courses toward the concentration. However, BIO 377 can count only once towards the major/selected concentration. Overlaps are not allowed.
BS Biology, Option 4: Microbiology + Infectious Diseases
BIO 377 and BIO 377-FRI cannot be used to substitute an upper-division Biology lab for the BS BIO, Option 4: Microbiology & Infections Diseases degree.
Students wanting to apply their FRI lab experience to a Microbiology major must have completed a pre-approved microbiology FRI stream from the list below. These streams may NOT be substituted for BIO 226L.
- Virtual Drug Screening/Robertus
- Antibiotics/Whiteley
- Functional Genomics/Iyer
- Bioprospecting/Hawkes
- BioBricks/Browning
- Aptamer/Ellington
- Vertebrate Interactome Mapping/Stevens
- Hijacking Microbial Factories for Synthetic Biology (Microbe Hackers)
BS Neuroscience: Option Neuroscience
In the BS Neuroscience: Option Neuroscience degree, students may use a total of 6 hours of NEU 377 toward major requirements. Students can split the 6 hours in either of the following ways:
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6 hours of NEU 377 towards the lecture requirement, OR
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3 hours of NEU 377 toward the lab requirement and 3 hours toward the lecture requirement
BSA Neuroscience
NEU 377 may be used once toward the "Twelve additional semester hours of neuroscience" area of the degree.
NEU 177 and 277 may not be used toward this requirement.