Course-based Opportunities

Our lab is looking to recruit BIOL 481 (Extended Research Project) students! We have an array of histology projects, including:

  • Seasonal changes in lung morphology of migratory songbirds,
  • Seasonal changes in intestine morphology of migratory and resident sparrows,
  • Comparison of lung histology of torpid and summer-active Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels.

New projects are consistently evolving and we welcome students who are interested in conducting research in the museum zoological collections (feel free to bring along your ideas)!

Students are not required to come with an idea for a project, as our lab has projects for you to be involved with!

Although we are primarily searching for BIOL 481 students, students who are searching for a BIOL 380, BIOL 480, or BIOL 479 supervisor should still reach out if they're interested in being apart of the lab! (We'll see what projects we can make work for a one-semester research project!)

Forms and syllabuses for these courses can be found on the Department of Biology website:

Summer Research

Are you interested in doing summer research and getting paid? Two options exist for paid summer research in our department:

NSERC USRA: This is a highly competitve summer research award. You will work with me to create a project proposal that will be submitted to the university for ranking. Deadline for applications is typically late January!

Biology Undergraduate Summer Research Award (BUGS): This summer research award is applied for in April and provides Biology students with paid summer research experience. This year's proposed research project focuses on the lung histology of migratory songbirds. This project will allow for development of sectioning, staining, imaging, and data collection of bird lungs, with the addition of helping with bird care throughout the summer with our captive sparrows. Students who are interested in conducting summer research and then continuing on into a BIOL 481 are given preference. Please contact Dr. Ivy if you are interested!

Certificate in Biological Research

Our College offers a Certificate in Biological Research that you complete concurrently with your undergraduate degree! 

This certificate has requires numerous courses, including BIOL 481 or multiple other research-based courses!