Research Opportunities: Restoring Brain Function in Aging

This opportunity is intended for motivated students who are interested in neuroscience research. Students from neuroscience, biology, and computer science majors are encouraged to apply. Participants will observe lab activities, gain exposure to ongoing projects, and participate at a limited level, with the goal of learning what day-to-day research in an academic lab looks like and determining whether joining the Park Lab in future semesters would be a good fit.

Please submit your CV and Essay.

Essay Prompt:
In your essay, please address the following questions:

  1. Why are you interested in participating in this lab research opportunity?
  2. Describe any relevant experiences or skills you have that make you a suitable candidate for this role.
  3. How does this experience align with your academic and career goals?
Name of research group, project, or lab
The Park Lab
Why participate in this opportunity?

This opportunity allows students to explore whether academic research aligns with their interests and career goals while gaining early exposure to neuroscience research. The experience is particularly valuable for students considering graduate school or long-term research involvement.

Logistics Information:
Subject Category
Neuroscience
Student ranks applicable
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Student qualifications
  • Strong interest in neuroscience research
  • Major in Neuroscience, Biology, Computer Science, or a closely related field
  • Motivation to learn and engage thoughtfully in an academic research environment
  • Ability to commit consistently to scheduled lab activities during the semester
  • Experience with basic programming and data analysis(e.g., Python or R) is a plus, particularly for students interested in computational approaches to neuroscience.

 

 

 

Time commitment
8-10 h/wk
Position Types and Compensation
Unpaid - Volunteer
Number of openings
2
Techniques learned
  1. Observation and Limited Participation in vivo mouse studies
    • Experimental planning and study design
    • Participation will be supervised with responsibilities aligned to training level
  2. Development of Data Analysis Pipelines
    • Contribute to the creation and refinement of reproducible data analysis workflows
    • Data preprocessing and quality control
    • Statistical analysis and visualization
Project start
April 1st, 2026
Contact Information:
Mentor
Cana Park
canapark@umass.edu
Principal Investigator
Name of project director or principal investigator
Cana Park
Email address of project director or principal investigator
canapark@umass.edu
2 sp. | 65 appl.
Time commitment
8-10 h/wk
Subject Category
Neuroscience