Banner-ASU Neuroscience Scholars is a paid, eight-week training program open to top-achieving college undergraduate and graduate science and social science students. Scholars work full-time on a research project under the mentorship of a Banner Research or ASU-Biodesign scientist or clinician to unlock medical and scientific mysteries in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, in a lab or clinical setting in the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
Research opportunities are divided into five separate tracks: basic and translational neuroscience; computational image analysis; healthy aging research; brain and body donation; and clinical neurodegenerative research. Each research track is correlated to a participating training facility.
As a part of the comprehensive program, Neuroscience Scholars also have an opportunity to: obtain hands-on training, attend educational seminars to boost their professional skills, learn about bioscience career options, practice scientific writing and create a scientific poster to showcase project outcomes and present their research at a concluding symposium.
Scholars are expected to commit 35-40 hours per week to the program. A stipend of $500/week for a total of $4,000 will be provided upon successful completion of the program. The overall aim is to give scholars cutting-edge experience in biomedical and clinical research.
The program capstone is a formal research symposium with mentors and institutional leaders, where scholars are required to deliver oral presentations, present project results and reflect on what they have accomplished during their tenure at Banner Research or ASU. Select students are nominated to deliver oral presentations at the event.
Past participants have gone on to achieve success and shared impressive accomplishments, including scientific abstract and manuscript publications, earning top national student rankings, gaining acceptance into first-rate graduate and medical schools and receiving national awards and scholarships.
“Young people bring enormous curiosity and ideas to science and technology. Banner and ASU Biodesign Institute researchers are working to unlock medical and scientific mysteries in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Investment to support ambitious students will only help to accelerate our work” —Josh LaBaer, Executive Director, ASU Biodesign Institute
“Advancing the research education and training of great students, introducing them to talented researchers, and engaging them in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders: What could be better than that?” — Eric Reiman, Executive Director, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute; Co-director, ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center at ASU Biodesign Institute
Learn more and Apply at https://neurosciencescholars.org/
1. Application phase
- December 2, 2024 – Application opens online.
- March 2, 2025 – Application closes. All recommendation letters must be received by this date to be considered for selection.
2. Review phase
- March 3, 2025 – Selection committee evaluates all complete applications.
- March 28, 2025 – Invitations to interview will be sent via e-mail by this date.
- March 31, 2025 – Finalists will meet with the selection committee throughout this time. Not all finalists are interviewed.
- April 11, 2025 – Final decisions e-mailed on or before this date.