UC Berkeley Amgen Scholars
Program Overview
Amgen Scholars at the University of California, Berkeley will participate in 10 weeks of intensive research in the sciences. Each student will have direct participation in a faculty member’s laboratory and work directly with faculty, a postdoctoral scholar, and/or a graduate student. In the lab, students will have the opportunity to participate in weekly lab meetings, the lab’s journal club, and other lab activities. Graduate Student Program Assistants (GAs) will assist participants in all aspects of the program with emphasis on the academic and social components and meet with Scholars on a weekly basis to obtain progress reports. Additionally, GAs mentor participants and play the role of liaison between the program, faculty, lab members, and the student. UC Berkeley offers students the opportunity to learn from leading scientists working on cutting-edge research across several disciplines including the biological sciences, bioengineering, chemical biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, plant biology, microbiology, neuroscience, synthetic biology, and other science areas.
Students will not only engage in laboratory research during the week, but also attend weekly seminars on a broad range of scientific subjects, workshops on graduate admissions, GRE preparation, preparing poster and oral presentations, and career opportunities in the sciences. UC Berkeley Amgen Scholars will also have the opportunity to interact with and participate in collaborative workshops and social activities with other summer research program participants on campus. During the summer, Scholars can take full advantage of San Francisco’s dynamic culture and other activities in the Bay Area.
The San Francisco Bay Area is the birthplace of the biotechnology industry and continues to have the greatest concentration of biotech companies in the world including Amgen, Genentech, and Chiron. The University contributed to the gene-splicing techniques that launched the $27-billion biotechnology industry and UC Berkeley professors have founded Chiron Corporation and other biotechnology firms.
The 2012 Amgen Scholars Summer Program will begin on May 26, 2012, and end on August 4, 2012. Amgen Scholars’ benefits include a $3,800 stipend, round-trip travel to Berkeley, room and board, and college course credit. All scholars will have expenses paid to participate in the National Amgen Scholars Program Symposium at UCLA in July 2012.
Eligibility to UC Berkeley’s Amgen Scholars Program includes U.S. citizens or permanent resident status, undergraduates enrolled in four-year U.S. colleges/universities as sophomores, juniors, or non-graduating seniors, have a 3.2 or higher grade point average, interest in research and the pursuit of a Ph.D. or joint M.D./Ph.D. degree, and no prior participation as an Amgen Scholar.
Deadline to apply to the Amgen Scholars Program at Berkeley is February 1, 2012. Notification of acceptance will be made between March 1 and March 30, 2012.
For additional information, please email us or call 510-642-0280.
Also visit the Amgen Scholars Program National Site for more information.
Photos by Peg Skorpinski
