The O'Connell Lab hosts undergraduate summer internships through the Department of Biology and through the Bio-X interdisciplinary program. These programs give Stanford undergraduates the opportunity to intern in the O'Connell lab for 10 weeks working on an independent project. These programs also offers multiple social and educational opportunities. Applications to this program are due in January (Biology) or December (Bio-X).
Stanford students interested in pursuing research projects throughout the academic year should contact Professor O'Connell. We do not offer unpaid internships, as this promotes socioeconomic divides in science. Students are either paid for their work in the laboratory or receive class credit.
We are particularly interested in working with undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields, first generation college students, and students from local community colleges.
Past Interns & Projects
2018
Aditya Iyer (Indian Institute of Science, Khorana Scholarship) - Tadpole diet and toxicity
Harmony Alvarez (Stanford University) - Dopamine and tadpole aggression
Travis Ramirez (Stanford University) - Spatial memory in Dendrobates tinctorius
2015
Siyuan (Lily) Cheng (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) - Plasticity in poison frog paternal care
Javon Mullings (Wheaton College) - Sex determination in poison frogs
2014
Stephanie Caty (Harvard University) - Toxicity in Oophaga sylvatica
Jason Millington (University of Nottingham) - Role of neuropeptides in poison frog paternal care
2013
Mia Bertalan (Harvard University) - Characterization of the skin microbiome on Oophaga sylvatica
Sitara Chapman (Wellesley College) - Divergence of early cell division programs in poison frog embryos
