The Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) is a pioneering program that empowers first-year College of Natural Sciences students to initiate and engage in real-world research experience with UT faculty and labs like ours!

In our FRI stream, EvoDevOmics, we identify how changes in the expression of genes have generated the astonishing diversity of morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits on our planet. In this stream, students take a hands-on approach to learning EvoDevo concepts and bioinformatics and statistical analyses of ‘Omics-level data through student-led research focused on identifying transcriptomic and genomic mechanisms of phenotypic variation.