Undergraduate Programs | Genetics at Texas A&M University

Genetics is one of the most exciting, rapidly expanding areas in the life sciences. More than an independent discipline, it has become the basis for understanding many aspects of medical and agricultural systems, animal and plant diseases, and even animal behavior. Developments in molecular genetics have provided biotechnologies that will dramatically affect our lives from the improved diagnosis of human disease, to the production of viral-resistant crops, to environmental cleanup.

The curriculum in genetics allows the study of several different aspects of genetics, including population genetics, human genetics and genetic engineering. The genetics major is designed to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for advanced studies in all disciplines related to life sciences from medicine/veterinary medicine to genetic engineering. This basic science curriculum also has enough flexibility to allow a student to prepare for diverse careers such as forensics, medicine, business or law.

Summer Undergraduate Research in Genetics and Genomics (SURGe) at Texas A&M University

The Program: Students will participate in a 10-week summer (Tentative dates: starts on Tuesday, May 28th and ends on Thursday, August 8th, 2024) research program under the direction of the Genetics / Genomics faculty. Topics of research include:

Biomedical Genetics / Genomics
Animal Genetics / Genomics
Plant Genetics / Genomics
Evolutionary Genetics / Genomics
Bioinformatics
Computational Genetics / Genomics
Microbial Genetics / Genomics

Students will have weekly meetings, which allows them to explore research and career opportunities in genetics and genomics, discuss research ethics, information for applying to graduate schools, and learn effective oral and written presentation skills. Additionally, participants will take GENE 657, a 3-cr course ‘Command Line Skills’, that will provide training modern bioinformatics tools via command-line that are used in genetics and genomics and which can be transferred to their home institution. Financial support will include a stipend of $7,000, in addition to living expenses (room and board) on campus, and travel expenses.

Eligibility: The program is open to undergraduate students majoring in genetics, genomics, biology, or any life science. Preference will be given to candidates who have finished their third year and have already taken a genetics course. However, outstanding students who have completed their second year of college work will also be considered. This program is committed to provide research opportunities for students from groups that are underserved in the sciences. Due to funding sources, preference is given to US citizens and permanent residents.

** We are no longer accepting applications for Summer 2024. The deadline to apply was March 1st, 2024 **

The next application cycle will open in January 6th, 2025 and it will be for students wanting to join the SURGE program in summer 2025

(We will provide a new application link in January 2025)

Welcome 2024 NSF SURGe cohort!! We are happy to have you in Aggieland!

This summer, we have the pleasure of hosting ten awesome students from different undergraduate institutions all over the country! Check them out!!

(Students in the picture from left to right are:)

1. Ella Seletstewa from Northern Arizona University (TAMUGENE Host Lab: Dr. Irtisha Singh)

2. Ailyn Doganoglu from Gettysburg College (TAMUGENE Host Lab: Dr. Michael Golding)

3. Neryan Castrodad from UPR Aguadilla (TAMUGENE Host Lab Dr. Cedric Geoffroy)

4. Dante Lopez from UTSA – The University of Texas at San Antonio (TAMUGENE Host Lab Dr. Zach Adelman)

5. Julia Hunter from Gettysburg College (TAMUGENE Host Lab: Dr. Jung Wang)

6. Kiera Griffin from Baylor University (TAMUGENE Host Lab: Dr. Jerome Menet)

7. Lance Nuique from Bowie State University (TAMUGENE Host: Dr. Qing Sun)

8. Christopher Teichmann from Austin College (TAMUGENE Host: Dr. Tapasree Roy-Sarkar)

9. Christian Hernandez from Texas A&M University of Kingsville The Texas A&M University System (TAMUGENE Host: Dr. Shogo Sato)

10. Ashlyn Parrott from McNeese State University (TAMUGENE Host: Dr. Zhilong Yang)

11. Dr. William Murphy – NSF SURGe PI (Texas A&M Genetics and Genomics Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences)

Save the following dates on your calendar and don’t miss our NSF SURGE students this summer!