At Rensselaer, student researchers play a critical role in the work-changing discovery, innovation, and breakthroughs taking place across campus.
	Undergraduate Research Conferences and Publications As undergraduate researchers, students have the opportunity to showcase their research findings to faculty and peers in a professional setting at the annual undergraduate research conference at Rensselaer. Students may submit papers to be assessed by a panel of faculty members, and many prizes are awarded. Rensselaer encourages all students to seek out opportunities for presenting these papers at national conferences, or to co-author expanded articles with faculty mentors for publication in research journals. Another venue for highlighting student work is the Rensselaer Undergraduate Research Journal (RURJ). Set to launch in fall 2010, the new journal is a peer-reviewed publication that offers students visibility and recognition across the Rensselaer campus and all of academia. For more information, please contact: Office of Undergraduate Education 4010 Walker Lab Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 12180-3590 Phone: (518) 276-2244 Fax: (518) 276-8062 E-mail: undergradresearch@rpi.edu

Rensselaer strongly encourages undergraduate students from all five schools to take part in the Institute’s vibrant research enterprise. Several programs are in place to help students identify undergraduate research opportunities.

Every year, the Office of Undergraduate Education sponsors about 600 students participating in the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) at Rensselaer. The URP is open to all students.

Whether the choice is to join and augment an ongoing research project, or to seek faculty guidance in pursuit of research ideas, the URP provides students with the opportunity to make research an integral part of their Rensselaer undergraduate education.

Undergraduate Research Program

The Undergraduate Research Program (URP) at Rensselaer is in place to help students identify and facilitate research opportunities. Under the URP, students may pursue research for academic credit, as a paid assistant in a research project, or for the experience of working in the labs of world-leading Rensselaer faculty researchers.

As a paid assistant, the Office of Undergraduate Education provides matching funds for students who receive a stipend from a sponsoring department or faculty member. URP opportunities are available during the academic year.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program

The Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) is a unique, exciting opportunity for students to spend the summer months immersed in leading-edge research with their faculty advisor. Application to the 10-week, full-time program begins with the submission of a research proposal that is competitively reviewed by a panel of faculty members.

Geared for more seasoned undergraduate researchers, SURP includes a research stipend for students and is a rich, sustained research experience that will be a memorable and rewarding component of the academic career.

Examples of undergraduate research at RPI include:

• Learning advanced cell biology and biochemistry techniques with an eye to developing new ways of fighting cancer.
• Developing specialized diagnostic and testing equipment for Olympic swimming and skeleton athletes.
• Designing and installing a solar power and battery backup system for a rural school in Haiti.
• Creating a new data visualization and projection system that transforms a room into an immersive, interactive, three-dimensional digital display.
• Contributing to an open-source, distributed-computing program that aims to map the Milky Way Galaxy.
• Working on behavior recognition software to track the movement of individuals over a distributed network of cameras.
• Studying and mitigating zebra mussel infestations in upstate New York lakes.

Additional Funded Research Opportunities

There are many other undergraduate research opportunities at Rensselaer. With the help of faculty members, many students secure external funding to pursue research opportunities in their field of interest. Additionally, grants and other funding awarded to faculty members often include a dedicated budget to support undergraduate research experiences.

Many different research centers at Rensselaer also regularly engage undergraduate researchers during the academic year and in the summer months.

The Office of Undergraduate Education and faculty researchers can also assist students in identifying summer research opportunities at federal laboratories around the country, or international research internships around the globe.