Undergraduate Research Incentive Program

SMAST Undergraduate Research Incentive Program

The Undergraduate Research Incentive Program (URIP) is an opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in research with a faculty member.

The program's objectives are to:

• stimulate awareness of advanced research
• generate interest in graduate study

Faculty research activities provide unique opportunities for individualized instruction and exposure to cutting-edge, emerging technologies. URIP is open to outstanding, full-time undergraduate students who are available for an average of 10 hours per week. Students work on campus under the guidance of an SMAST professor on a specific research topic. The program is funded on a matching basis by the faculty sponsor and the college.

Students in this incentive program will:

• be exposed to research early in their academic careers
• gain first-hand experience working with research faculty and/or graduate students

Faculty participants will be able to: 

• engage and recruit top undergraduate students to their research program
• extend their research funding and productivity

Faculty/departments will be responsible for recruiting qualified students for the program and submitting the URIP Faculty Application (PDF) with a brief project description to AskSMAST@umassd.edu.

Student responsibilities

Students must:

• maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 and satisfactory laboratory performance
• meet with the faculty mentor during the first week of the semester to define a research plan and schedule, and be put on the payroll
• fulfill weekly hours agreed upon at the time of hire
• submit a thorough Undergraduate Research Incentive Program Report Form  (PDF) along with a 500-word abstract 

The responsible faculty member fosters a meaningful research experience and evaluates performance at the end of each semester. To the extent possible, URIP funds will be deployed to maximize the distribution of student/faculty participants.