Global Disease Biology - Practicum Project
During students' time at UC Davis as a Global Disease Biology major student, they will have the opportunity to engage in a practicum project under a mentor to advance their technical and professional skills. Despite anyone's level of previous research experience, the GDB advising team as well as many other UCD departments are here to ensure that GDB students have all of the tools they need to find and succeed in an undergraduate research project.
The practicum project involves finding a faculty mentor and completing at least 90 hours of research under their guidance. Then, students write about their research experiences in a scientific manuscript of publishable quality. The Guide to the GDB Practicum Project linked here contains important updates in regards to virtual practicum opportunities.
These tools are not only useful for finding a practicum project/mentor, but also useful for finding other research opportunities that undergraduates can become a part of as soon as they get to Davis, which are highly encouraged and can count towards restricted elective units or just research experience in general.
As always, please reach out to gdb-advise@ucdavis.edu if you have any questions or concerns regarding your practicum project. The GDB Advising Team is here to support you!
Resources
Guide to the GDB Practicum
The Guide to the GDB Practicum is the go-to resource for anything having to do with the practicum. It provides information about what the practicum is and how it works, guidance on how to find a mentor, how to register for your research units (GDB 189) and your practicum report units (GDB 189D), and all other details surrounding the practicum. You can click here to read and review the most current version of the Guide to the GDB Practicum.
List of Previous Practicum Mentors
Thank you to all the UC Davis Faculty who have served as Practicum Mentors for our GDB students. We appreciate your efforts in supporting our students during their journeys as undergraduate researchers!
Click here to view our list of faculty who served as practicum mentors from Fall 2022 to Summer 2023.
Practicum Pods on Spotify
Practicum Pods on Spotify is a podcast interview series in which GDB advisors interview current and former GDB students about their experiences with the GDB practicum. They discuss topics, like finding a mentor and networking, identifying a research topic, conducting research, tips, tricks, and much more!