What it is, and who it is for
Undergraduate research means doing real scholarly or creative work with a faculty mentor — running experiments, analyzing data, building and testing a design, doing fieldwork or archival work, contributing to a creative production, or tackling a company-sponsored technical problem. It is not just for future PhD students or for science majors: departments across engineering, business, design, health, education, and the humanities all involve undergraduates. You do not need a high GPA or prior experience to start; you need curiosity and reliability.
Finding a project
Three routes. Browse faculty research pages and email two or three whose work genuinely interests you (name the specific project, say why, attach a résumé, ask for a conversation — not "any openings?"). Attend the fall research mixer. Or bring your own question to a professor who works nearby. Projects can run for course credit, for pay (an hourly wage or a stipend), or as volunteer experience to start; many students begin volunteer and move to paid once they have proven useful. First-year and sophomore students are welcome — starting early means a deeper body of work by senior year.
Support and funding
Competitive undergraduate research grants cover materials, travel to conferences, and student wages — your mentor helps you apply. Librarians help with literature searches, data management, and citation; the research office covers ethics training and, where human or animal subjects are involved, the review-board process. Summer research programs offer a stipend and housing for a focused block of full-time work, and are worth applying to early.
Sharing it, and where it leads
Students present at Research in the Rotunda and the spring campus symposium, at regional and national disciplinary conferences (often funded), and sometimes as co-authors on published papers or as named contributors on a design or patent. Beyond the line on a résumé, research gives you a faculty member who knows your work well enough to write a specific, strong recommendation letter — which is what graduate programs, fellowships, and selective employers actually respond to. Honors-in-the-major usually centers on a research or capstone project.
Questions?
See the full staff & office directory for any phone number or email. Because this is a fictional parody site, addresses and phone numbers are illustrative and do not reach a real university.