Undergraduate Students – Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies (MMA)

MMA faculty members are engaged mentors of undergraduate students in research laboratories on eight CUNY campuses. Collectively, CUNY MMA faculty members have mentored several hundred undergraduate researchers during the past five years.
During the academic year, research internships are typically offered as Independent Study or Honors courses. Students work at the bench or computer with Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows, also meeting frequently with their faculty mentors. The Honors sequence typically includes oral presentation(s) and written reports.
During the summer, CUNY undergraduates pursue research projects supported by institutional fellowships, individual faculty grants, or multi-investigator programs. The latter format includes CCNY’s NSF-supported Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site, which replicates the Biochemistry/Biophysics/Biodesign (B^3) theme of our Ph.D.-level curricular track. This program typically provides summer fellowships for 10-12 students, recruited nationally and from the many CUNY campuses. The summer programs, which are run jointly, include laboratory research, training in technical writing and presentations, career preparation, poster sessions, symposia, field trips, and recreation.
CUNY’s NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and NIH programs for Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) on each of several campuses also offer research and career development support that spans the summer and academic year.