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The Research Mentor is the most important part of your undergraduate research career. Mentors are faculty who are actively involved in research who will help guide you along your research journey and share with you much of the knowledge and experiences they have gained in the course of their research career.

The first step to engaging in mentored research is to find a faculty member doing research that you're interested in. Below are links to help you find faculty researchers at FAU and our affiliated institutes. Browse through and see what people are researching. If you find a few that really pique your interest, look into them further and think about sending them an email to schedule a time to meet up and talk about their research. You might be able to turn that into an opportunity to intern with them!

Research at FAU:

Start here to search faculty by keywords or name: http://www.fau.edu/experts/

College of Arts and Letters:

Anthropology: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/anthro/faculty/

Communication & Multimedia Studies: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/scms/faculty/
English: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/english/englishfaculty/

History: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/history/faculty/

Lang., Ling, and Comp. Lit: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/llcl/faculty/faculty-profiles/

Music: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/music/faculty/

Philosophy: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/philosophy/faculty/

Political Science: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/politicalscience/faculty/

Sociology: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/sociology/faculty/

Visual Arts and Art History: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/vaah/faculty/

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: http://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/wgss/faculty/

College of Engineering Centers: http://www.eng.fau.edu/research.php

Browse Faculty: http://www.eng.fau.edu/directory/index.php

College of Medicine

Biomedical Science:

http://med.fau.edu/home/departments/biomedical/faculty.php

College of Science Research Centers: http://www.science.fau.edu/centers.php

Biology Department Faculty:

http://biology.fau.edu/home/departmental_faculty.php

Marine Biology:

http://biology.fau.edu/research/marinescience.php

Environmental Science:

http://biology.fau.edu/research/environmentalscience.php

Cellular and developmental biology:

http://biology.fau.edu/research/cellbiology.php

Neuroscience:

http://biology.fau.edu/research/neuroscience.php

Organismal Biology:

http://biology.fau.edu/research/organismalbiology.php

Molecular Biology and Biotechnology:

http://www.science.fau.edu/cmbb/faculty_staff-.php

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute: http://www.fau.edu/hboi/personal/

Physics: http://physics.fau.edu/people/index.php

Math: http://www.math.fau.edu/people/index.php

Psychology: http://www.psy.fau.edu/people/faculty.php

Affiliated Research Institutes:

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience:

http://www.maxplanckflorida.org/our-science/our-scientists/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Scripps Florida: http://www.scripps.edu/florida/departments/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Torrey Pines Institue for Molecular Studies: http://www.tpims.org/our-scientists (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

U.S. Dept of Agriculture: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=research-science (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Florida Center for Environmental Studies:

http://www.ces.fau.edu/research/index.php

Now that you have found a few researchers who are working on a subject that interest you, the next step is to research their work. Check out the SearchWise engine on the FAU Library Webpage. Here you can search the faculty you are interested in to find publications on their research. You should read through these, write questions, and take notes. Be sure you really understand what their research is about.

The flowchart below will guide you through the next steps:

How to find a mentor flowchart-page-001.jpg

If you want more information on this process, check out our video.

After you make your initial contact and set up a face-to-face meeting, you will need to prepare for your meeting. The resources below will help you do just that!

Meeting with Potential Mentors

Seize Your Undergraduate Research Interview: Ask the Questions that Matter. By David Oppenheimer