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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

To qualify, students must meet the following requirements:

  • Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 and satisfactory lab performance
  • Maximum hourly wage of $17.00
  • Students are being supported on extramural funds (sponsored projects, including MUST or PI Indirect)
  • Meet with the faculty mentor during the first week of the semester to define research plan, set a schedule, and be added to payroll
  • Fulfill the minimum weekly hours as agreed upon at time of hire
  • Submit a brief summary report and 500-word abstract on their research at the end of each term

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.