PELLSTON, Mich. — Students at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) engage all of their senses in the remote, natural setting that nurtures deep thought and scientific discovery.

Aseel Akhdar, an undergraduate transfer student at U-M, was a guest student from Henry Ford College when she took courses at UMBS last year including Limnology.

“The boat was our classroom so you’re always out on the water,” Akhdar said. “I even got to field sample at night. We took the boat out at about 1 a.m., and we were able to collect water samples and see the trend in different zooplankton abundance in the deeper waters. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was really fun!”

Registration is open for spring and summer courses, scholarships and undergraduate student research fellowships during the 2025 field season at the residential campus nestled along Douglas Lake in northern Michigan, about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge.

The priority application deadline is March 15.

UMBS, which spans 10,000 forested acres surrounded by lakes, also welcomes guest students to take courses and transfer credits back to their home institution with ease.

“Our four-week spring and summer sessions are a great chance for students from all majors — including first-year students — to get ahead in their degree programs and academic goals through immersive, adventurous field-based courses and hands-on research,” said Dr. Aimée Classen, director of the University of Michigan Biological Station and a professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “You gather data in the field and then bring it back to the lab to study. It’s a truly transformative experience.”

Guoxiang "Jerry" Gao, a U-M student majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology, took UMBS courses and used CRISPR gene-editing technology for monarch butterfly research as part of a class in spring 2024.

“We have the opportunity to really touch the science,” he said. “You want to do research on biology in your future? This is the best place for you.”

Molly West took courses at UMBS in 2013. She is now a cancer researcher at Michigan Medicine.

“Taking courses or doing research at the Biological Station is not some continuation of your degree in the traditional sense—it is a life-changing and epic experience with many opportunities that the Ann Arbor campus can’t provide,” West said.

Isabel Gil is a senior at U-M who took UMBS courses in 2023 and worked as a science communications intern last year. She is double majoring in English and Program in the Environment (PitE), with a specialization in environmental writing and communication. 

“The classes and the overall experience were integral to my experience as a student at the University of Michigan. I gained invaluable research experience, and loved that every day, we got to live what we were learning,” Gil said. “This place is magic—let it change you.”

“It is wild,” said Kailey Koshorek, a U-M student who took courses at UMBS last year including General Ecology Lab. “When are you going to go jump in the mud in the bog where it’s all squishy and weird?”

Gabi Leon, a UMBS student during the summer 2024 term and a junior at U-M majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology, took two courses: Field Mammalogy and Insights from Trees: Science, Art, and Observation in a Noisy World.

She valued the community of students and scientists created by UMBS.

“You’re living with these people, you’re eating meals with these people, but then you’re also going out in the field, you’re making hypotheses, you’re measuring mice for disease ecology research,” Leon said.

No prior field experience is required. All students can be considered for UMBS scholarship funding, including guest and international students.

The spring term is from May 20 through June 19, and the summer 2025 term is from July 1 through July 31. 

Learn about available courses, examine how they satisfy academic requirements, review the schedule structure, explore housing at the field station, and access the 2025 application on the UMBS course website.

Students also can apply for the Biological Station Undergraduate Research Fellows Program. It’s a fully supported research experience that includes a $5,500 stipend, on-campus housing, meals and — if desired early in a student’s career — tuition to take a summer term course at UMBS. We have mentors that span a wide range of topics including:

  • Disturbance forest ecology and carbon sequestration;
  • Disease ecology;
  • Evolution of trees;
  • Ecology of bracken fern;
  • Forest ecosystem function and stability;
  • Community ecology and assembly in pitcher plants;
  • Microbial ecology and global climate change;
  • Wild rice restoration; and
  • Climate change, grasshopper herbivory and spider predation.

See the UMBS Student Research Opportunities website for details.

Ysabelle Yrad, who was a graduate student researcher at UMBS in 2022, is now focused on proposed offshore wind energy development as a fellow with the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe, a federally recognized Tribe in northern California.

“I definitely have a unique opportunity post-UMBS,” Yrad said. “I absolutely love my role, and I would not have received it without my experiences at UMBS.”

The U-M Biological Station — the largest of U-M's campuses — is one of the nation's largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.

Founded in 1909, the Biological Station supports long-term research and education. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.