After completing the three-semester First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program, students have a variety of opportunities for further research and/or internship experiences. Many Binghamton undergraduates conduct research under the supervision of faculty or have internships in industry.
With completion of the three semesters of FRI research, our undergraduates are competitive for national fellowships.
Post-FRI opportunities:
- Course credit as Undergraduate Peer Mentor in FRI - Student applies to FRI program to coach new FRI students in one of the FRI courses/streams, with a weekly commitment of about six hours during semester.
- Course credit as "Independent Study" - Student arranges this with specific faculty. It might be to continue the FRI project, or start a new project with different faculty, even a project in a different field.
- Summer research assistant - Often faculty provide support from their research grants for students to continue research over the summer.
- External scholarships and other research opportunities - Contact our External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center for opportunities and advice about how to apply for on and off campus opportunities.
- Internships - contact our Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development.
- 4+1 programs available at Binghamton University - complete a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in five years with more than 50 degree program options.
Post-FRI student examples:
- Samantha Wong, FRI Environmental Visualization student: Drone research may benefit farmers
- Lakshmi Hareendran, FRI Neuroscience student and peer mentor: Parkinson’s treatment could be more effective, student finds
- Jasper Baur, FRI Environmental Visualization student: Geology student wins goldwater scholarship
FRI Clean Energy StudentUpon completion of the FRI program, I was immediately invited to work in a Geomicrobiology laboratory, as only a sophomore. While I did not directly have experience with the instruments and experiments run in this Geomicrobiology lab, the professor had confidence in my ability to work in the lab, conduct relevant research, and properly document my conclusions as I had gone through the FRI course sequence. Subsequently, I remained in this lab for the duration of my time and Binghamton University, completing an honors thesis and NSF GRFP proposal based on the research I conducted. Now, I am confident in my abilities to successfully conduct research and convey my results in an effective manner, to various types of audiences.
