Prospective Students

Graduate Students

Dr. Harris will likely accept 1 Graduate Student in the Fall 2024 cycle (Fall 2025 start date)!

Texas Tech and DBS

More information about applying to grad school in the Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech can be found on the TTU Biology Website. Students will apply to the graduate school and then the application will be forwarded to the Department of Biological Sciences. Faculty must agree to sponor or support an application when it comes to our department, so it is important to discuss opportunities and projects with your potential gradutate mentor. There is a fee to apply to TTU Grad School, if this is a concern, talk with Dr. Harris. The Department of Biological Sciences supports graduate students through Teaching Assistant positions (TAs) during the fall and spring semesters. These TA positions are guaranteed for Master’s students for 3 years and for Doctoral students for 5 years. Summer funding and additional pay bumps are contingent on external grant support, and in some cases fellowships.

The Biology Departmant has a single admissions deadline (Jan 15th) and top students who apply will be put into a competitive pool for on-campus fellowships.

Harris Lab

What I’m looking for: motivated, inquisitive, critically-thinking students with an interest in stress physiology, behavior, endocrinology, & ecology and evolution.

What you can expect: vibrant new lab with start up funds – including summer support; rigorous and exciting science; intellectual freedom; equitable and inclusive leadership; active mentoring and support of multiple career paths.

My mentoring style is flexible, I am more hands-on initially and then transition to a more hands-off approach as students make progress and gain experience. I also work with each student to tailor a mentoring regimen that fits their career goals. I have a Harris Lab Expectations and Handbook (to see handbook, go here which provides explicit information for students and details what they can expect from me; we discuss and then all students sign this upon entering my lab. This handbook is a living document and lab group discussion is used to edit and update this document as needed. I have recently updated the handbook with a greater focus on inclusivity, equity, and antiracist practice, as recommended by various published articles (e.g., Chaudhary, V. B., & Berhe, A. A. (2020). Ten simple rules for building an antiracist lab).

If you’d like to start a conversation to determine if we would be a good match, please email the below documents to me (breanna.n.harris@ttu.edu). Please also take a look at the Projects tab and please read the following article Harris, 2020.

  1. Cover letter containing:

    • Your educational experiences and/or background, including GPA (adjusted to a 4.0 scale) and what program you are pursuing at TTU (see M.S. and Ph.D. options here; 1-2 paragraphs)
    • Why you chose to contact me/why you are interested in my lab (1-2 paragraphs)
    • What part of Harris, 2020 (above) did you find most interesting? (1 paragraph)
    • Your research interests and ideas (the more specific you can be, the better; 1-2 paragraphs)
    • A description of your included writing sample (e.g., if the writing is from a class essay, provide enough detail for me to understand the context of the assignment) and why you chose that writing sample.

  2. CV

  3. A writing sample of your choosing

Undergraduate Students

I am not hiring at the moment, but I always keep applications on file for a year. If you’re interested, please do complete an applicaiton and email me.

Undergraduate students play a large and important role in my lab. My students routinely take major leadership roles in the research, present findings at local and national meetings, and co-author papers. I very much enjoy mentoring students in the lab. I am looking for dedicated, motivated, mature, and critically thinking undergraduate students to join our lab team.

Lab work is exciting and rewarding, but it also takes a lot of time, energy, commitment, and dedication. Students in training are expected to show up on time; complete assigned tasks; ask questions when they arise; put in honest effort; respect the lab, the animals, and their labmates (including Dr. Harris); complete and follow required TTU trainings; keep a lab notebook; and practice their critical thinking skills. Research, scientific writing, and lab work are difficult. Things will not always go as planned. Failure and constructive criticism are commonplace in science and are necessary for the production of quality work and for the advancement of the field. Please do not be discouraged if you receive critical feedback on your work, performance, or writing; the scientific process is difficult and takes practice. If you stay in science you will continue to get critical feedback for the rest of your career.

You can take as much or as little as you want from this experience, but please do keep in mind that the lab has basic expectations and a continuing position is not guaranteed. The more you put into this experience, the more you will get in return. I have high standards and I expect you to be on time, hard-working, organized, responsible, efficient, and accountable. These standards are not in place to be a burden, but are necessary for the completion of accurate and sound science. Integrity and ethics in science are of upmost importance and having an efficient and organized lab is absolutely necessary. Every task and every procedure is important, even if it does not seem that way initially. Research requires one to be extremely detail-oriented and organized. Research demands attention and time, and some tasks are more fun/interesting than others. In the lab, everyone does everything; no one gets to do the “showy” work all the time. The more you show you can handle the “boring” stuff, the more responsibility you will be given.

Still interested? Fantastic! Please download the application here.

Please note that students can work in my lab under a variety of mechanisms, including:

  • Course credit (Bio 4300/4100-079; 1 or 3 hr option)
  • CISER (separate application process)
  • TrUE (separate application process)
  • Undergraduate Research Scholars (separate application through the Honors College)
  • Work Study (separate application)
  • Part of other grants/funding mechanisms.

For general research opportunities for undergrads at TTU, please see here

Please note, I typically require at least a 1-yr commitment and 6-15 hrs/week from students when they join the lab.

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