The University of Texas at Austin

The Freshman Research Initiative offers first year students the opportunity to initiate and engage in authentic research experiences in chemistry, biochemistry, nanotechnology, molecular biology, physics, astronomy and computer sciences while being supported and mentored by faculty and graduate students.

"I am an Innovator" Videos

Freshman Research Initiative students were featured in videos about their experience in FRI. View Bioprospecting Stream researcher Khushali Patel's video here and Aptamer Stream researcher Ryan Lannan's video here. 

Article on FRI Featured in The Scientist

An article by FRI director, Dr. Sarah Simmons, was featured in the Febrary edition of The Scientist. Read the full article "Learning by Doing" here. 

Supramolecular Sensors Stream Receives Funding from Class Action Law Suit

The Supramolecular Sensors Stream will be receiving funding from a class action suit against Constellation Brands and E&J Gallo wineries. The winemakers had misclassified their wine, and sold it as an incorrect varietal. In a class action law suit, the company cannot receive any money back, but unclaimed funds can go to an entity that could have prevented the mistake from happening. Because research in the Supramolecular Sensors Stream involves designing sensors that allow for the identification of wine varietals, the SMS stream will be the recipient of any unclaimed funds from the settlement.

FRI Student Receives Awards for Research Presentation

Congratulations to Melissa Jarmel, a senior cellular and molecular biology major and former FRI student and mentor, who received two research presentation awards last fall.  Melissa attended the Rice University Undergraduate Research Symposium and received the Outstanding Presentation in Molecular Genetics award for her FRI research talk:  Identification and characterization of novel factor Msc6p in mitochondrial protein synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  Melissa also received a poster presentation award at the 2011 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students for work done at the University of Pennsylvania as part of the 2011 Leadership Alliance summer research program.

FRI Students Selected for Illinois Summer Neuroscience Institute Program

Congratulations to Aptamer Stream freshman students Ankita Brahmaroutu and Gabrielle Zuniga, who have been selected to attend 2012 Illinois Summer Neuroscience Institute (ISNI). ISNI is highly competitive—only 26 students are selected from universities nationwide to attend this week-long all expense-paid program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.