Schreyer Honors College
The Schreyer Honors College at Penn State is a competitive program for exceptional students. Honors students are required to take honors coursework and to write a senior thesis. During the first two years, students take honors sections of courses or can honors option courses that don’t offer an honors section. In the junior and senior years, bioengineering courses and other upper level courses can be taken as honors options, and 500-level courses also count.
For the Honors thesis, students should identify their research interests in consultation with their advisor, and contact professors in the department or outside the department to identify possible research projects. This should generally be done in the sophomore or junior years to maximize the depth of research. It is also a good idea to set aside one or more summers to focus on honors research. Past bioengineering students have carried out comprehensive research projects and in many cases have published their research in peer-reviewed journals.
During the senior year, bioengineering honors students take two semesters of Bioengineering 494: Honors Research. At the end of the first semester, a thesis draft is submitted that consists of an Introduction, Methods, and Results to Date. Approximately one month before the end of classes, students submit their final thesis to a three person thesis committee, present and defend their thesis in a short oral presentation, and then turn the revised thesis into the Honors College.
JUNIOR GATE
Students that do not start in the Schreyer Honors College in their freshman year can apply for the Junior Gate entry into the program. They must have a 3.7 GPA and must commit to writing an honors thesis. Information on Junior Gate is available during the spring semester of students’ sophomore year.
HONORS ADVISORS
Honors advisors in the Bioengineering Department are:
Dr. Will Hancock wohbio@engr.psu.edu
Dr. Peter Butler pjbbio@engr.psu.edu