Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

Faculty Information Page 

Faculty Role in UROP

UROP assistantships are awarded to students who work on original research with faculty sponsors.  The role of the sponsor begins with the initial application.  At this point in the process, the student works out a proposal with the faculty sponsor for the research to be undertaken.  The student then writes the proposal and submits it with the application. 
Once the student has been accepted into UROP and has begun work, the faculty sponsor provides regular supervision throughout the period of the UROP assistantship.  The student is, however,  expected to be capable of independent work, and in this way can provide significant help with a specific area of a larger faculty project. 
Students may qualify for a UROP assistantship only by working on original research.  Work as a lab assistant or secretarial aid will not qualify a student for an assistantship.

faculty info under construction...more to come 

Undergraduate Research
By Mary Crowe, Director, Undergraduate Research, University of North Carolina, Greensboro

The cumulative personal and professional benefits of completing an undergraduate research project are varied, interwoven, complex and, in some cases, not easily measured.  Nonetheless prior work has shown that students who are involved in undergraduate research: 1) gain self-confidence (Ferrari and Jason 1996, Campbell and Skoog 2004, Houlden et al. 2004), 2) are more likely to complete their undergraduate education (Nagda et al. 1998, Ishiyama 2001;) and 3) are more likely to go onto graduate school (Kremer and Bringle 1990, Chandra et al. 1998, Alexander et al. 2000, Foertsche et al. 2000, Ishiyama 2001, Bauer and Bennett 2003) compared to students who did not have a research experience.  

The Boyer Commission report Reinventing Undergraduate Education: a Blueprint for America’s Research Universities (1998) clearly articulates the need for research-based learning as an integral component of undergraduate education. As one contemplates the “value added” of undergraduate research, one hopes that in addition to gaining self-confidence and increasing retention and graduation rates, undergraduate research helps students grow intellectually.  

Descriptive studies suggest intellectual gain is associated with undergraduate research (Hakim 1998, Kardash 2000, Raukhous and Czaja 2002, Hathaway et al. 2002). Within the past three years a few very well-designed assessment studies have demonstrated that students involved in research perceive an intellectual gain from such experiences (Ishayama 2002, Seymour et al. 2003, Lopatto 2004).  

Descriptive studies suggest that it is the student-faculty interaction that plays a key role in enhancing student confidence (Blackburn et al. 1981, Jacobi 199, Koch and Johnson 2000), student retention, and academic growth (Pascarella and Terenzini 1991, Astin 1993,Tinto 1998).

Literature Cited

Alexander, B., Foertsch, J. Daffinrud, S. and Tapia, R. 2000.  The spend a summer in with a scientist (SaS) program at Rice University: a study of program outcomes and essential elements 1991-1997.  Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 20 (3): 127-133

Astin, A. 1993. What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. Josey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Bauer, K.W. and J.S. Bennett.  2003.  Alumni perceptions used to assess undergraduate research experience.  J. Higher Education 74: 210-230.

Blackburn, R. Cameron, S. and Chapman, D. 1981. “Cloning” in academia: mentorship and academic careers. Research in Higher Education 15: 315-327.

Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. 1998. Reinventing undergraduate education: a blueprint for American’s Research Universities. Stony Brook, NY. http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf/

Campbell, A. and Skoog, G. 2004. Preparing undergraduate women for science careers. Journal College Science Teaching 33(5): 24-26.

Chandra, U., Stoecklin, S. and Harmon, M. 1998. A successful model for introducing research in an undergraduate program. Journal of College Science Teaching 28(2): 116-118.

DiBiasio, D. and Mello, N. 2004. Multilevel assessment of program outcomes and assessing a nontraditional study abroad program in the engineering discipline. Frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal of study abroad. 10: 237-252.

Ferrari, J.R., and Jason, L.A. 1996. Integrating research and community service: incorporating research skills into service learning experiences. College Student Journal 30 (4): 444-451.

Foertsche, J. , Alexander. B.B. and Penberthy, D. 2000. Summer research opportunity programs (SROPs) for minority undergraduates: a longitudinal study of program outcomes 1986-1996. Council of Undergraduate Research Quarterly 20 (3): 114-119

Hakim, T. 1998. Soft assessment of undergraduate research: reactions and student perceptions. Council of Undergraduate Research Quarterly : 189-1192.

Hamilton, S. 2003. A principle-based approach to assessing general education through the majors. www.eport.iu.edu/Journal%20of%General%20Education.pdf accessed 11/21/05

Hathaway, R., Nagda, B. and Gregerman, S. 2002. The relationship of undergraduate research participation to graduate and professional education pursuit: an empirical study. Journal of College Student Development: 43: 614-631.

Houlden, R. , Raja, J., Collier, C., Clark, A. and Waugh, J. 2004. Medical students’ perceptions of an undergraduate research elective. Medical Teacher 26(7); 659-661.

Ishiyama, J. 2001. Undergraduate research and the success of first generation, low income college students. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 22: 36-41.

Ishiyama , J. 2002. Does early participation in undergraduate research benefit social science and humanities students. College Student Journal 36(3):

Jacobi, M. 1991. Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: a literature review, Review of Educational Research  61(4): 505-532

Kardash, C.M. 2000. Evaluation of an undergraduate research experience:  perceptions of undergraduate interns and their faculty mentors. Journal of Educational Psychology 92(1) 191-201.

Koch, C. and Johnson, W. 2000. Documenting the Benefits of Undergraduate Mentoring. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 20: 172-175

Kremer, J. and Bringle, R. 1990. The effects of an intensive research experience on the careers of talented undergraduates. Journal of Research and Development in Education 24(1): 1-5.

Lopatto, D. 2004. Survey of undergraduate research experiences (SURE): first findings. Cell Biology Education 3: 270-277.

Malachowski, M. 1996. The mentoring role in undergraduate research projects. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 91-94.

Nagda, B.A., Greggerman, S.R., Jonides, J., von Hippel, W., and Lerner, J.S. 1998. Undergraduate student-faculty research partnerships affect student retention. Review of Higher Education 22: 55-72.

National Science Foundation 2002. The user friendly handbook for project evalution. NSF 02057.pdf

Nnadozie, E., Ishimaya, J. and Chon, N. 2001. Undergraduate research internships and graduate school success. J. College Student Development 42(2): 145-156.

Pascarella, E. and Terenzini, P. 1991. How college affects students: findings and insights from twenty years of research. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 

Seymour, E., Hunter, A.-B., Laursen, S., DeAntoni, T. 2003. Establishing the benefits of research experiences for undergraduates: first findings from a three-year study. Science Education 88: 493-534.

Shellito, C., Shea, K., Weissmann, G., Mueller-Solger, A. and Davis, W. 2001. Successful mentoring of undergraduate researchers: tips for creating positive student research experiences. J. Coll. Sci. Teaching 30: 460-465.

Tinto, V. 1998. Colleges as communities: taking research on student persistence seriously. The Review of Higher Education 21: 167-177.