6-Month Undergraduate Internship Program in Dental Materials Research

Details

The University of Florida College of Dentistry offers an internship program for domestic undergraduate students and post‑baccalaureate students. The objective of the internship program is to provide research‑focused experience designed for undergraduate and post‑baccalaureate students seeking substantive exposure to research, mentorship, and academic scholarship at UFCD. The program is six months, and interns commit 8 hours/week, integrating structured training with hands-on laboratory work that culminates in an abstract and poster presented at the Center for Dental Biomaterials. The curriculum includes classes, regular meetings, and seminar opportunities with UFCD faculty, dental students, and residents. The intern will be provided with individual mentoring support on executing and presenting their research. Upon completion of all program requirements, students receive a certificate of completion with 208 CEUs.

Objectives

• Enhance knowledge in research applied to dentistry
• Learn how to perform a research project
• Get hands-on experience performing a research project
• Get engaged with UFCD faculty, dental students, and residents
• Develop skills to strengthen your candidacy to professional programs, such as medicine, dentistry, public health, biomedical sciences, and allied health programs.

Execution

During this six-month program, you will gain advanced knowledge of research and methodology for materials testing;

Special lectures according to interest and existing knowledge;

Have personal mentoring by UFCD mentor/faculty;

Learning research doing it: come up with idea with your mentor, search and read literature, develop a research question, define methodology of experiments, pilot study, run experiment, analyze results and present your research at the Center for Dental Biomaterials. Option for submission for poster presentation at UFCD Spring Synergy (Spring Semester);

Regular meeting and seminar opportunities with UFCD faculty, dental students and residents.

Faculty

Department:

DN-OPERATIVE DIVISION

Mateus G Rocha DDS, MS, PhD

Clinical Associate Professor & Director, Center for Dental Biomaterials

Department:

DN-OPERATIVE DIVISION

Dayane Oliveira DDS, MS, PhD

Associate Professor

Program Information and Application