MIMG 99 & 199

• Review MIMG faculty research topics
• Determine who is doing research that looks most interesting to you.
• Contact the faculty members via e-mail.  Use the UCLA directory to find their contact info. and confirm the PI’s preferred email/contact method with the Department Advisors (i.e. MIMG Advisors) as needed.
• In your email, include a resume and brief cover letter.
• Reach out to several mentors (ie. 10+).
• Do follow up with faculty after giving some response time (i.e. the following quarter), but don’t reach out to the same person more than 3 times. 
• If the faculty member is interested, you will most likely be asked to interview.
• Before the interview, it’s best to look up the faculty member’s recent publications, found in the Faculty Research section of the MIMG website (as above).
• The faculty member will discuss with you whether you should do 99 or 199 (most require students who are just beginning research to do at least one quarter of 99).
• The faculty member will discuss the project with you, that is, you do not have to already have a project in mind.

• The student must first check with the MIMG Advising Team (email undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu) to see if the faculty in question has already been approved for MIMG 199.
• If the faculty has NOT already been approved, the student must petition by submitting the following:
  • A letter from the student explaining why they want to do 199 with the mentor (previous experience with the mentor is an example).
  • A one-page proposal for the project that the student will be researching.
• The petition materials must be submitted to undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu no later than the first day of instruction.
• The departmental Curriculum Committee will review the petition. In addition to working on a topic that is relevant to the MIMG major, the Curriculum Committee also looks at the qualifications of the proposed mentor and will only approve the petition if the mentor has the experience and a record of independent research accomplishments deemed comparable to those of a typical MIMG professor.
• If the faculty is approved, the student will proceed with filling out and submitting the 199 contract

• For SRP 99: For SRP, sign up through the Undergraduate Research Center, 2121 Life Science Building. Also see the Undergraduate Research Center – Sciences
• For 199: 
  • Please see this guide for Enrolling in Contract Courses at MyUCLA. You will need to create a contract via MyUCLA and save the PDF/print the contract. Your PI will sign, and you’ll submit this signed PDF to us at undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu. 
    • If you do not submit a contract, you will not be enrolled.  There is no “automatic enrollment”.
    • Once you’ve taken the safety class you do not need to take it again, but you must attach proof of competition to every contract you submit.

Students are NOT allowed in enroll in 199 in the same research lab in which they are working for pay.  Exceptions to this rule require prior approval by the Vice Chair of Undergraduate Studies, April Pyle.

• Must have an MIMG faculty mentor or approved UCLA faculty mentor. 
• Be an MIMG major of at least junior standing (non-MIMG majors see below). 
• Have a GPA of at least 2.5 in the pre-major and major classes. 
• Have proof of completion of the Lab Safety Fundamental Concepts course.

• 199 is a one-quarter commitment.
• Students can repeat 199 for multiple quarters if desired (up to 32 total units of 199 or 8 quarters).

• Please see this guide for Enrolling in Contract Courses at MyUCLA. You will need to create a contract via MyUCLA and save the PDF/print the contract. Your PI will sign, and you’ll submit this signed PDF to us at undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu. 
  • If you do not submit a contract, you will not be enrolled.  There is no “automatic enrollment”.
  • Once you’ve taken the safety class you do not need to take it again, but you must attach proof of competition to every contract you submit.

• All 199 contracts must include a thoughtful and well-described proposal for research, to be approved by the department.
• Your mentor will help you with the proposal.
• All contracts also require a commitment to produce tangible evidence of the research in the form of a written report (see below).
• Your mentor must sign the contract, the Department Chair DOES NOT.

But there’s a place on the contract for the Departmental Chair to sign!

The Chair never ever needs to sign the contact.  The 199 contract is a standard contract used all across campus.  The MIMG department is not able to remove the line that asks for the Chair’s signature.  If we could, we would.

One quarter of MIMG 199 will fulfill the MIMG General Elective requirement. 

Additional quarters of MIMG 199 will not be counted toward the MIMG major but may help fulfill UCLA's Upper Division requirement.

Other departments' 199 courses (i.e. MCDB 199) do not count toward the MIMG major but may help fulfill UCLA's Upper Division requirement.

Students majoring in another Life Science department can petition for enrollment in MIMG 199!  For more information, email undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu with your UID. 

Your faculty mentor, not the MIMG department.

Any Incomplete (I) for a 199 must be resolved during the following quarter (Fall in the case of Spring), or it will lapse to an F.  Continued enrollment in 199 will not be permitted until the Incomplete is resolved.

• The MIMG 199 report must be five to ten pages, double spaced, plus any figures and tables. It must include these seven components:
  Title Page, Abstract, Intro, Methods, Results, Discussion, References
• The MIMG advising team will email the submission guidelines to all students enrolled in MIMG 199s by the end of the 8th week. MIMG advisors will include instructions on how to submit your report. Make sure your faculty mentor has reviewed the report before you submit it. 
• Along with your report, you must submit a Faculty Acknowledgement Form signed by your faculty mentor. 
• If you do not receive the submission guidelines and the Faculty Acknowledgement Form by the end of the 8th week, please contact the MIMG Advising Team at undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu.

You must submit the report to the department by 5pm on the Friday of Finals Week. A report is due every quarter for which you are enrolled in MIMG 199. 

The MIMG advising team will email the submission guidelines to all students enrolled in MIMG 199s by the end of the 8th week. MIMG advisors will include instructions on how to submit your report. Make sure your faculty mentor has reviewed the report before you submit it. 

Along with your report, you must submit a Faculty Acknowledgement Form signed by your faculty mentor. 

If you do not receive the submission guidelines and the Faculty Acknowledgement Form by the end of the 8th week, please contact the MIMG Advising Team at undergrad@microbio.ucla.edu.

Yes!  Even if your mentor doesn’t require that you write a report, the department does.

• For the first quarter of 199, you are NOT expected to have enough data for a complete report.
• Think of the paper as a rough draft or work-in-progress.
• Write as much as you can, given what you have at that point.

• Some mentors use the paper as part of their basis for grading the student, some do not.
• This should be discussed with the mentor before the student begins research.
• Even though the department does not grade you, a report must still be submitted, as agreed to on the 199 contract.

• Grading criteria and expectations vary and should be discussed with the Faculty Mentor before the student begins research.
• The student and mentor should establish clear grading criteria and a work schedule BEFORE the quarter begins. This ensures:
  • Both parties have a shared understanding of expectations
  • There's clarity on when the student should be in the lab
  • Both agree on what constitutes a successful quarter