BIOS Mentors - Summer 2026 - Phillis

BIOS (Biology Intensive Orientation Session) requires mentors to help guide student through the program and provide the voice experience to the incoming first year students who join the program.

All BIOS mentors must have participated themselves in the BIOS program when they were first year students.

 

Name of research group, project, or lab
BOIS Mentors 2026
Why participate in this opportunity?

BIOS Mentors can have an important positive influence on incoming first year life science students.   This program is designed to help incoming students become familiar with campus, experience the format and challenges of university coursework, develop productive new friends in the context of academic work, and learn from upper division students who have developed positive academic and interpersonal skills required for success at UMass Amherst.

Logistics Information:
Field(s) of Study
Biology
Student ranks applicable
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Student qualifications

Successful applicants must have participated in BIOS as a first year student.

BIOS Mentors must be successful students themselves, be involved in multiple aspects of university life and be available for the full week of BIOS from Friday, August 28, 2026 through 2pm on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.   

Time commitment
15+ h/wk
Position Types and Compensation
Paid - General
Number of openings
4
Techniques learned

BIOS Mentors develop interpersonal and mentor skills required to help guide inexperienced first year students, many first in their family to attend college, into a successful university experience.   

BIOS Mentors also facilitate a student research project involving stem cell therapy and genetic engineering.

Project start
August 28, 2026
Contact Information:
Mentor
Randall Phillis
rphillis@umass.edu
Associate Professor - Lead Instructor
Name of project director or principal investigator
Randall Phillis
Email address of project director or principal investigator
rphillis@umass.edu
4 sp. | 2 appl.
Time commitment
15+ h/wk
Field(s) of Study
Biology