Advising FAQ

Yes, for most majors, but please contact icons@cns.umass.edu to double-check with us.

The two section of iCons 2 meet at different times:

1. Section 1 - Biomedicine/Biosystems: Tuesday/Thursday from 10:00 to 11:15. 
2. Section 2 - Renewable Energy: Tuesday/Thursday from 11:30 to 12:45.

If you enter iCons as a freshman:
The normal sequence of iCons courses is:

1. Spring Freshman year – iCons 1
2. Spring Sophomore year – iCons 2
3. Spring Junior year – iCons 3
4. Senior year – iCons 4 

If you enter iCons as a sophomore:
The normal sequence of iCons courses is:

1. Spring Sophomore year – iCons 1
2. Spring Junior year – iCons 2 and iCons 3
3. Senior year – iCons 4 

Aim to find a lab where the research is interesting to you, and where you can draw a connection to your iCons problem area (either Biomedicine/Biosystems or Renewable Energy -- for now). Read UMass Amherst faculty research websites, listen to your gut about what you find interesting, then write a short email to each of the professors whose research interests you. Make sure to do the following in your message:

• Introduce yourself: Name, major, iCons theme
• Express your sincere interest in their research, and explain that you are looking to join a lab ASAP 
• Ask if they are planning to take in any undergraduate students, and if so, would be willing to meet for 15 minutes to discuss common interests sometime soon

If you get a meeting, make sure to prepare for the meeting by downloading a paper of theirs and read it, generating thoughtful questions and even some of your own ideas for future work. If the 1st meeting goes well and you remain interested in their work, ask for a follow-up meeting where you talk about the possibility of joining their lab, eventually leading to your having your own project. Then, if/when you join their lab, be a good team player and a careful, creative, honest, and hard-working scientist. That's all :)

iCons 3 BIO is:

Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 - 4:30PM.

If you have already taken iCons 2 RE, then you can simply add iCons 3 RE in SPIRE. The formal course name is ICONS 389H, which is the permanent course number.

1. iCons 1 and iCons 2 (may be taken concurrently with iCons 3), with a grade of C or higher. 
2. Calculus 127 and 128 or Calculus 131 and 132 with a grade of C or higher. 
3. Science lab courses (or science courses with associated labs, such as Chem 112 or Physics 132) from at least two different departments, with a grade of C or higher.

The course is typically taught in the Fall semester.

No, there is no iCons thesis. If you are in Commonwealth Honors College, you will do your thesis through your department.

Choose a project that offers a balance between: (i) Your intellectual interest in a given topic and (ii) The topic's potential for transformative science.

How do you know if a topic has scientific potential? Ask yourself whether it will allow for the application of the Scientific Method.

The steps of the Scientific Method:

• Ask a question
• Pose a hypothesis (essentially an educated guess for the answer of the question)
• Design a study to test the hypothesis
• Carry out the study, fixing its flaws along the way
• Collect, analyze, and interpret data
• Determine if data are consistent with hypothesis
• If yes, party hardy
• If not, revise hypothesis until it becomes consistent with available data, and then party hardy
• Write up results in scientific format

In general, the iCons 4 (i4) research adviser offers advice to help you succeed in your research project. Such advice might involve (but is not limited to) help in choosing topics and questions, in framing hypotheses and designing experiments, and in analyzing and interpreting data. Your research adviser may also provide encouragement and perspective along the way of your research experience. 

From an administrative perspective, your i4 research adviser provides constructive criticism on your proposal, and eventually accepts the proposal and hence gives you the green light to do the work. Your i4 research adviser then meets with you in a mutually-agreed-upon meeting schedule, to help supervise the research. Then your i4 research adviser provides constructive criticism on your written thesis, and eventually gives you a grade on your written thesis. 

Your i4 research adviser is NOT involved with the peer support teams, the cohort wide meetings, the integrative experience, or any of the Senior Expo planning.

No. The problem is that many potential advisors won't welcome you into their lab at the late date of senior fall or even summer's end. Many advisors will not allow a student to begin a new research project at the beginning of senior year, because that student has so little time to get up to speed on things. For many advisors, you'll need to convince them that you'll do some reading over the summer to get up to speed, so when you start in the Fall you can hit the ground running. It's much harder (namely impossible) to make that case if you approach them at the end of the summer or the beginning of senior fall. We strongly suggest you find a lab during junior spring, before you leave campus.