Undergraduate Student Research Opportunities - Research Office
Undergraduate research—nationally recognized as a high-impact practice—is particularly strong on campus. Led by a committee of faculty members from many disciplines, Montana Tech’s undergraduate research program offers several ways for students—from freshmen to seniors—to get involved, collaborate with faculty, and make discoveries that advance the frontiers of knowledge and technology. The Research Office manages the program and supports the faculty committee. The URP provides only one avenue for students to participate in research. Other avenues include joining a funded research project, working for the on-campus Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (MBMG), or working for Montana Tech’s Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP), or Center for Environmental Remediation and Assessment (CERA), or conducting research and preparing a senior thesis. Montana Tech also encourages students interested in research or graduate school to spend a summer doing research on campus or at another university or major research laboratory as a paid participant in a summer Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) program. Montana Tech’s URP students also have opportunities to present their results at regional, national, and international conferences.
The Undergraduate Research Program has three types of opportunities: traditional academic year undergraduate research in collaboration with a faculty member (URP); faculty-mentored and designed research project for a team of freshmen and sophomores (RAMP); and the paid Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). All of these options are available both to students interested in research and in those whose projects would be public health internships (PHI). These opportunities are described below. Please contact the URP committee at urp@mtech.edu with any questions.
Learn more about the impact of Undergraduate Research at Montana Tech here.
The next call for proposals will be for projects to be conducted during academic year 24/25.
The Undergraduate Research Committee is pleased to open the call for proposals for the Undergraduate Research Program/Public Health Internship.
The proposal submittal and due date is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (Late proposals will not be accepted).
Email the proposal document and cover sheet(s) in PDF format to urp@mtech.edu. (See guidelines for specific instructions) Hard copies will not be accepted.
For more information, see attached guidelines with details about student eligibility and obligations, and proposal preparation.
Undergraduate students wishing to participate in the Undergraduate Research Program must submit a proposal. For more information on submitting proposals, please visit the program guidelines and application page.
Each full-time student participating for the full academic year will receive a $1,500 scholarship, with half provided at the start of the fall semester and half provided at the start of the spring semester. For purposes of the awards, research is broadly defined and may include investigations of a cultural or historical question, documentary or production arts, as well as laboratory or field research more typically associated with the science or engineering disciplines. Students must be in good academic standing. Bachelor’s-degree-seeking students must be enrolled in at least 12 credits plus at least 1 URP credit to be eligible. Students in associate’s degree programs must be enrolled in 9 credits plus 1 URP credit. The scholarship amount will be pro-rated for associate’s-degree students, who are enrolled in fewer than 12 credits of courses.
Please note: students should develop their proposals with the assistance of their Research Supervisor/Mentor. The Proposal must follow the guidelines.
The Undergraduate Research Committee is pleased to open the call for proposals for the Spring 2023 Session of the Research Assistant Mentorship Program (RAMP). This program is for freshman, sophomore, and junior-level researchers (less than 90 credits of completed coursework) that have not participated in formal URP funded research before. Ideally full-time faculty members will assemble teams of 3 researchers for spring semester research projects.
Proposals (3 pages max) should be drafted by faculty mentors and submitted to urp@mtech.edu no later than 12 p.m. (noon) on Wednesday December 7, 2022. Full details for proposal submission, and the required cover page are attached. No late proposals will be accepted.
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program is designed to provide an intensive, in-depth summer research experience to a small number of Montana Tech undergraduate students. Proposals are written and submitted by the faculty mentor. Projects span 9-10 summer weeks, with students working full time (40 hours per week) or half time (20 hours per week, for a proportionally reduced stipend). SURF students participate in five lunch-time professional development workshops over the summer and present a poster at Montana Tech’s SURF symposium in early August. Individual and small-team projects are allowed.
Some Montana Tech faculty have received funded research grants through various external agencies and many include undergraduate students as hourly employees on these projects. Talk to faculty in your department, CAMP, MBMG, or in the department doing the kind of research you are interested in to find out what opportunities are available.
In addition, many universities and federal laboratories host undergraduate research programs, often called “Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU).” The November to February time frame is when these host sites invite applications. The links below, many others, and those of the professional society for your discipline will have current information, as will Montana Tech’s Career Services Office.
- Nationwide REU OPPORTUNITIES funded by the National Science Foundation
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Research
The following programs are offered through other institutions and may be available to Montana Tech students:
We are here to answer your questions, and connect you with the right resources to optimize research, growth, and discovery.
MUS 210, 212, 213
(406) 496-4106
ResearchOffice@mtech.edu