Undergraduate-Research Opportunities

There are several opportunities for students to work on research projects with faculty:

Undergraduate Thesis is an option for students who want the opportunity to write a major paper on a topic of their choosing. Offered as both 399H (for students who are in the honors program or intend to graduate with honors) or as 399 (for good students who don't qualify for honors), this option allows students to take 1-6 credit hours. The student identifies a project and then seeks to find a faculty member who will agree to supervise the work. This may be a faculty member with whom you have had a good experience in the past, but it might also involve developing a new relationship with a faculty member whose own research is in the area of your project. Start by discussing your plan with a faculty member whom you know and get some advice on which faculty members would be a good match.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in the UCARE (Undergraduate Creative Activities & Research Experiences) Program. UCARE, funded by the Pepsi Endowment, offers opportunities for undergraduates to be paid to work alongside faculty members and directly participate in the campus's research or creative activities. Undergraduates may apply for UCARE awards to incorporate a research or creative experience into their undergraduate education. UCARE is organized as a two-year program designed for full-time UNL undergraduates who have completed at least 30 semester hours. Students are generally expected to have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants must work with a faculty sponsor; the sponsor may be either from the student's own college or another college, if appropriate. All full-time UNL faculty regardless of rank or nature of appointment may serve as sponsors. During the first year, the student works as a research assistant for a faculty member on the faculty member's ongoing research or creative activity project(s). During Year 1, the student engages in "learning by doing" - learning why and how the faculty member does research and creative activities by assisting the faculty member in completing research tasks. The student may learn such skills as how to do library literature reviews, code or retrieve data, work in a research laboratory, undertake research techniques specific to a project or discipline, assist with an experiment, work in a studio, and so on. In Year 2, the student advances to a project proposed by the student and sponsored by the faculty mentor with whom the student worked during the first year. The project may be an extension of or related to the student's UCARE experience during the first year or may simply build upon skills gained in the first year. The key factor is that the faculty member sponsor and serve as a mentor for the project.