Research · June 4, 2026
Two Hundred Students Present at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium
The one-day event showcased paid summer research across every college, from bridge sensors to apparel supply chains.
About 200 undergraduates presented posters and short talks at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, the capstone of a program that pays students a stipend to work full-time with a faculty mentor for ten weeks over the summer.
Projects this year ranged widely: a low-cost sensor network for monitoring aging highway bridges, a study of microplastic capture in stormwater basins, an analysis of lead times in regional apparel supply chains, a usability study of a county benefits website, and an oral-history archive of the region’s dairy cooperatives.
“For a lot of these students this is the first time they have owned a question for ten weeks instead of a problem set for a weekend. You can see it change how they talk about their field.”
— director of undergraduate research
The program has grown from 30 students in 2016 to over 200, funded by a mix of federal grants, industry sponsorship, and donor-endowed fellowships. Abstracts are published in an online proceedings.
Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu
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