Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Engaging undergraduate students at UWM in organized research provides exposure to research for aspiring scientists and academics, while enhancing UWM's research capacity, infrastructure, and culture.
Following are some formal UWM programs offering undergraduate research opportunities. Other departments may have opportunities without a Web presence; contact individual departments for more information.
Graduate School
- McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program
- The McNair Program is designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds who enter graduate studies leading to the doctorate. At least two-thirds of the students must be low-income individuals who are first-generation college students; the remaining participants must be from a group that is underrepresented in graduate education.
- WiscAMP Sophomore Research Experience and Undergraduate Research Collaboration
- The programs' goals include: Strengthen the resolve of UWM minorities to persist in the STEM fields of study (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) through graduation and enter graduate education; provide valuable research experiences that will increase mathematical and technical skills needed in formal research academics in the STEM fields; provide faculty and peer mentors who will serve as research mentors and positive role models; expand and strengthen the pool of qualified students of color eligible to apply for the McNair Program; and provide unique opportunities for faculty and student research collaboration.
Great Lakes WATER Institute
- NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates
- Talented, aspiring young scientists in the prime of their undergraduate education continuum apply to summer research experience programs in order to get a grip on the reality of scientific careers. This reality utilizes their training in individual aspects of science (factual, conceptual, practical) simultaneously in real-life situations, side-by-side with active research faculty and staff. Moving in concert with current trends in fundable research, the importance of basic skills training and resilience to approach new topics is interwoven with functional, semi- to fully-independent project experience in today's programs.
Advanced Analysis Facility
- Summer Research Intern Program
- Begun in 1996, the program provides qualified UWM undergraduates with a unique hands-on experience, utilizing the scientific equipment and instrumentation housed in the Facility. The AAF provides a broad spectrum of analytical instruments, including UV-VIS and FTIR Spectrometers, optical and FTIR microscopes, Scanning Electron Microscope with Elemental Analyzer, Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer, X-Ray Diffractometer, TGA/DTA System, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (ESCA), etc.
College of Letters & Science
- Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)
- UROP pairs students with leading academic researchers. Building on a strong tradition of undergraduate research at UWM, the UROP makes it possible for even first- and second-year undergraduates to participate first-hand in the University's research mission.
Psychology
- Undergraduate Research Apprenticeships
- Many majors enroll in Psy 290 (Undergraduate Research Lower Division) and Psy 690 (Undergraduate Research Upper Division) to get additional hands-on research experience. Psy 290 and Psy 690 are essentially research apprenticeships with a faculty mentor.