The Julius L. Chambers
BIOMEDICAL/BIOTECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The Graduate Assistant Program

The Graduate Assistant Program offers students the opportunity to work and train with faculty, staff, and other students in the BBRI. Students perform laboratory research towards their thesis.

Graduate Assistantship

M.S. students will receive $15,000 during the academic year, paid in 12 monthly installments. If funding is available, students will receive health insurance and tuition for a total of 30 credit hours towards the M.S. at NCCU.

Work Schedule

Each Graduate Assistant is expected to be affiliated with a NCCU faculty member's laboratory. Students are expected to be in the research laboratory when not attending class. No other employment is permitted while the student is receiving funding from the Graduate Assistant Program. Graduate Assistants are expected to spend 15 hrs/week during the Fall/Spring semester and 40 hrs/week in the summer conducting research. Graduate Assistants are also required to attend seminars/lectures and weekly journal club meetings.

Evaluation

Graduate Assistants will be expected to prepare a laboratory or literature search report after each semester and after the summer. This report will constitute the progress report on the project, and will be approved by the research advisor and kept on file in the Education and Training Office.

Professional Scientific Meetings

Graduate Assistants will be eligible to attend one scientific meeting per year to report their research findings.

Maintaining the Fellowship

In order to continue the Graduate Assistantship, students must remain in good academic standing with a 3.0 GPA. Continuation of the graduate assistantship will be contingent upon academic performance, laboratory research performance, conduct becoming of a professional, and satisfactory progress towards the degree program.

Application

The Graduate Assistant Program accepts applications 3 times a year:

  • The Summer Session application deadline is April 15.
  • The Fall Semester Session application deadline is July 15.
  • The Spring Semester Session application deadline is November 1 .

A completed application should contain:
  • The Graduate Assistant Program Application
    • An application may be downloaded HERE(PDF)
    • or you may fill out the online application HERE
  • Letter of Acceptance into the M.S. Biology Program at NCCU
  • 2 Letters of Recommendation from Research Mentors/Supervisors
  • 1 Official Transcript from each Undergraduate Institution
  • Copy of GRE Scores

The completed Application Packet should be returned to:

Office of Education and Training
NCCU
JLC-BBRI
700 George Street
Durham , NC 27707