The University of Rhode Island has announced that 62 undergraduate students will participate in its Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program, which allows participants to conduct graduate-level research during the 10-week training.
Said students represent nine different local colleges and universities, with 27 participants from the University of Rhode Island.
“Students are provided an experience that will help advance their budding research careers, whether it be in graduate school or in industry,” said Jim Lemire in a release on the move. He serves as SURF program coordinator and professor at Roger Williams University’s Feinstein School of Social and Natural Sciences.
SURF, which was established in 2007, offers opportunities for students to develop relationships with faculty, learn how to tackle grad school applications, become more comfortable around related lab and field tools, how to best share their research and more. Two federally funded entities, the Rhode Island National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research grant and the Rhode Island Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, help support the program.
In total, SURF has graduated more than 380 students, with this cohort presenting their work during the Rhode Island SURF Conference on July 26.
“What began as a handful of students being paid to work in some labs at Brown University, URI, RWU and Providence College has grown into a state-wide partnership with the RI INBRE program and nine Rhode Island colleges,” Lemire added.
