Within higher-education, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) are a common summer immersion experience which supplement research activities that occur during the academic year. Typically, these highly competitive undergraduate programs are overseen by a member of a college's faculty, who provide general guidance to the undergraduate's research work. Areas of research vary widely, and can come from any art or science discipline.
Often, SURF participants are given a stipend to cover living expenses for the duration of the project. SURF projects are also, more often than not, used for college credit, though this will vary according to the institution.
Many colleges give students the option to carry out a one or two semester senior research project, also under the SURF banner. Majors in a department follow a core of course requirements intended to gradually introduce students to the research process. By following this core, undergraduates reach their senior year adequately prepared for meaningful, independent research. A distinctive element of many SURF experiences is that the project results in a written thesis defended before a faculty panel in the presence of the department and students.
Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for academic or professional degrees, academic or professional certificates, academic or professional diplomas, or other qualifications for which a first or bachelor's degree generally is required, and it is normally considered to be part of higher education. In North America, this level is typically referred to as graduate school.
A thesis, or dissertation, is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings. In some contexts, the word "thesis" or a cognate is used for part of a bachelor's or master's course, while "dissertation" is normally applied to a doctorate. This is the typical arrangement in American English. In other contexts, such as within most institutions of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, the reverse is true. The term graduate thesis is sometimes used to refer to both master's theses and doctoral dissertations.
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. A distinction is typically made between graduate schools and professional schools, which offer specialized advanced degrees in professional fields such as medicine, nursing, business, engineering, speech–language pathology, or law. The distinction between graduate schools and professional schools is not absolute since various professional schools offer graduate degrees and vice versa.
Northeastern University is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus in Boston as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North Carolina; Seattle, Washington; San Jose, California; Oakland, California; Portland, Maine; and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. In 2019, Northeastern purchased the New College of the Humanities in London, England. The university's enrollment is approximately 19,000 undergraduate students and 8,600 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Northeastern faculty and alumni include Nobel Prize laureates, Rhodes, Truman, and Marshall scholars. Undergraduate admission to the university is categorized as "most selective."
The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, SUNY Albany or UAlbany, is a public research university with campuses in the New York cities of Albany and Rensselaer and the town of Guilderland. Founded in 1844, it is one of the "university centers" of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) is a collaboration of more than 1,000 scientists across 100 research institutions with a mission to: conduct research on earthquakes in Southern California and elsewhere by gathering data, conducting theoretical studies, and performing computer simulations; integrate information into a comprehensive, physics-based understanding of earthquake phenomena; and communicate that understanding to end-users and society at large as useful knowledge for reducing earthquake risk and improving community resilience..
Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's degrees, the BPhil is typically a postgraduate degree awarded to individuals who have already completed a traditional undergraduate degree.
The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, often referred to as the Ford School, is a leading public policy school at the University of Michigan. Founded in 1914 to offer training in municipal administration, in 1999 the school was named after former President Gerald Ford, who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1935. In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, the Ford School was ranked #1 in social policy, #3 in health policy and management, #5 in public policy analysis, #7 in environmental policy and management, and #7 in public affairs overall.
Gaziantep University is a public university in Gaziantep, Turkey. Gaziantep University has 10 faculties, containing a total of 22 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research.
Margaret L.A. (Scotty) MacVicar was an American physicist and educator. In addition to serving as MIT's Dean of Undergraduate Education (1985–1990), MacVicar is credited with founding the now widely emulated Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) in 1969. MacVicar received her undergraduate and graduate degrees at MIT and joined the faculty, giving her the rare distinction of being a "MIT lifer."
Arts & Sciences is home to the College of Arts & Sciences as well as graduate programs across its many departments. The current Dean of the Faculty is Feng Sheng Hu, the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences.
The College of Biological Sciences (CBS) is one of seven freshman-admitting colleges at the University of Minnesota. Established in 1869 as the College of Sciences, the College of Biological Sciences is now located on both the Minneapolis Campus and the St. Paul Campus. CBS is a college that focuses its undergraduate and graduate attention towards research. The dean is Valery E. Forbes. The Associate Dean for Graduate Education is Carrie Wilmot, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education is John Ward, the Associate Dean for Research is David Greenstein, and the Associate Dean for Faculty is Marlene Zuk.
The School of Education and Social Policy (SESP), established in 1926, is the smallest of the eight undergraduate and graduate institutions at Northwestern University, USA. Located about 12 miles north of downtown Chicago in Evanston, Illinois, SESP is devoted to the academic study of education and is consistently ranked among the top schools of education in the US.
The University of California, Irvine has over fourteen academic divisions.
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering (HSSoE) is the academic unit of the University of California, Irvine that oversees academic research and teaching in disciplines of the field of engineering. Established when the campus opened in 1965, the school consists of five departments, each of which is involved in academic research in its specific field, as well as several interdisciplinary fields. The school confers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
The Tepper School of Business is the business school of Carnegie Mellon University. It is located in the university's 140-acre (0.57 km2) campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.
The University of Washington Department of Bioengineering is a joint department of the College of Engineering and School of Medicine, and is located in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Technion International (TI) is the international department of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which was ranked as the best university in Israel and the Middle East. Located in Haifa, Israel, Technion International was founded in 2009 in order to oversee Technion’s international academic endeavors. Technion International offers a variety of programs, including "full undergraduate and graduate programs, postdoctoral fellowships, study abroad programs, summer programs for gifted teens, research internships as well as entrepreneurship programs". As of 2018, "Technion has academic collaboration agreements with 232 universities in 41 countries and 36 medical school agreements".
Undergraduate research is the exploration of a specific topic within a field by an undergraduate student that makes an original contribution to the discipline. It is a fairly recent concept in the academic community, with roots in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The creation of MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) in 1969 encouraged an explosion in popularity. Undergraduate research programs were fairly common by the 1990s. Students may work on their own, collaborate with faculty members, or seek enrollment in a research program within their field. Both faculty members and students experience advantages and disadvantages when collaborating on research. Undergraduate research can be conducted in the sciences and in the humanities. The research approach differs depending on the field and the focus. Undergraduate research is often required for acceptance into graduate and professional schools.
Ulrica Wilson is a mathematician specializing in the theory of noncommutative rings and in the combinatorics of matrices. She is an associate professor at Morehouse College, associate director of diversity and outreach at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM), and a former vice president of the National Association of Mathematicians.
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