Interdisciplinary Science Program for Integrating Research into Education (INSPIRE)

Overview | The INSPIRE Experience | Eligibility and Application | Year-by-Year Objectives | Advisors | Interdisciplinary Programs | Getting Involved in Undergraduate Research

Year-by-Year Objectives

• Freshman Year, First Semester
• Freshman Year, Second Semester
• Junior and Senior Years

Because the essence of a research university is the creation and dissemination of new knowledge, Emory’s INSPIRE program is designed to engage students as soon as possible in these activities. Beginning in the freshman year, students learn about research through novel introductory science courses, unique small seminar settings where they discuss and explore current research projects, and, most importantly, through proposing, defending and executing research ideas and projects.

While it is important for students in an interdisciplinary science program to learn about a diverse range of subjects, it is also critical that they receive a solid introduction to all basic sciences – math, physics, chemistry and biology. One benefit of the INSPIRE program is that mentors will assist students in identifying the formal course infrastructure necessary for their selected course of study.

Making plans for the summer? Creativity, problem solving, communications, community involvement… these leadership skills can be learned best within the framework of experiences such as research experience, internships, study abroad.  In order to foster and develop these skills in the INSPIRE fellows, the program will support a range of experiences such as: summer in a research laboratory at Emory, research abroad, research in a non Emory US institutions, community involvement, etc. 

Freshman Year, First Semester

The first semester of the program includes 3 core courses: Origins of ORDER, Chem 171* and Chem 226L, or Physics 151* and Physics 397.

ORDER (On Recent Discoveries by Emory Researchers) is a freshman seminar course (fulfilling your freshman seminar requirement) organized by award-winning professor David Lynn. Students will learn about important research findings made here at Emory, and the teacher-scholars who made these discoveries will explain how they developed their questions and hypotheses.

As a result, students will gain deeper insight into the groundbreaking research going on at Emory, as well as a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at experimental design. Perhaps most importantly, these distinguished scientists will mentor students in how to ask and answer their own questions, and how to think critically about problems in the natural sciences and social sciences.

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Freshman Year, Second Semester

The second semester will provide the first opportunity for INSPIRE fellows to benefit from their training in the first semester. Rather than participate in a traditional undergraduate laboratory, they will spend time directly in a research laboratory.

Students will work side by side with upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and Emory faculty members on cutting-edge research projects in a variety of disciplines. As a result, the experience will place the INSPIRE student in a unique position to tackle a summer research internship with their own research project in the science department of their choice. INSPIRE faculty will also assist students in identifying specific summer research projects and the research facilities available at Emory.

Students, with the help of faculty advisors, will decide the second semester course selections based on the students’ interest. For example, a student interested in the drug discovery track will typically choose a second semester of Biology 142 rather than a second semester of physics. A student interested in biophysics would probably take Physics 151 followed by Physics 152. This approach allows students to take at least one course in all the sciences while building in enough flexibility to accommodate different interdisciplinary programs.

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Junior and Senior Years

In the junior and senior years, students continue to take challenging science courses as they pursue research. Their choice of courses will depend on the interdisciplinary program they are involved in and after consultation with their advisors.

Students are expected to take at least four semesters of research. Their training in groundbreaking interdisciplinary fields can best be accomplished through these carefully chosen research experiences. Students are also encouraged to spend another summer involved in either an internship, research at a non-Emory lab or research abroad.

In the senior year, students will be enrolled in a capstone senior seminar that will also fulfill their writing requirement for that year. The intent of this seminar is to gather the cohort before they graduate and to give them an opportunity to learn about the various interdisciplinary projects that each pursued while at Emory. Because most students will have performed enough research to participate in the Honors Program, the senior interdisciplinary seminar could well be the venue for students to share their research projects and write the introduction to their honors thesis.

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