Category Archives: Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program (RUSP): deadline extended to April 13

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Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program (RUSP)

Now accepting applications from the Class of 2022!

  • Are you interested in pursuing a research career?
  • Do you think a Ph.D. might be the next step for you?
  • Will you be conducting a year-long research project as a senior?
  • Would you like $1000 to fund your senior research project?

Program Summary: The Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program (RUSP) is a two-semester, for-credit program aimed at senior Rice students in all disciplines who are interested in pursuing a research career and planning a one-year senior research project through an honors thesis or independent study. Students attend weekly seminars on topics related to graduate school and research careers across sectors. The program is focused on developing research and presentation skills, an understanding of a research career, and how to apply to graduate school and nationally competitive fellowships. In addition, all students in the program receive funding that may be used for research materials or conference attendance.

Benefits: Students will receive one credit per semester, access to research funds, an understanding of academic life, feedback on essays for graduate applications and fellowships, and an appreciation of the broader impact of their research.

Course: Participation in RUSP requires enrollment in the accompanying one-credit courses HONS 470 and 471, offered in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. The 2021-2022 course is on Thursdays from 5-6:15 pm in both the fall and spring semesters. Registration and attendance are required during both semesters in order to be eligible for funding. The graded course components per semester include research presentations, application essays, project proposals, and class participation.

Applications due: April 13, 2021 (deadline extended)

For more information and to apply, please visit the following site: https://ouri.rice.edu/rusp

DOE’s Office of Science Is Now Accepting Applications for Fall 2021 Undergraduate Internships

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DOE’s Office of Science Is Now Accepting Applications for Fall 2021 Undergraduate Internships

Students Will Conduct Research and Technical Projects at National Laboratories

Applications are currently being accepted for the Fall 2021 Term of two undergraduate internship programs offered by the DOE Office of Science: the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program. The application deadline is May 27, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

SULI and CCI offer undergraduates opportunities to conduct research or technical projects, respectively, at DOE National Laboratories and facilities under the mentorship of laboratory staff scientists and engineers. Both programs also offer students professional development opportunities. These programs are intended to encourage undergraduates to enter scientific or technical careers relevant to the DOE mission by providing technical training experiences.

SULI is open to students attending 4-year institutions and community colleges, while CCI is exclusively for community college students. Both programs are stipend-based and are offered three times annually. The Fall Term SULI program is 16 weeks long, while CCI is 10 weeks long.  Some laboratories offer flexible schedules to CCI participants.

Additional information about SULI and CCI is accessible from the homepage of the Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists. Resources include lists of participating laboratories, eligibility requirements, application guidance, Frequently Asked Questions, and highlights featuring former interns.

 

Click here for more information on undergraduate internships

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships for Rice Physics and Astronomy Majors

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Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships for Physics and Astronomy Majors

including the Thomas A. Trombello Award, the Harold E. Rorschach Memorial Scholarship, and the G.C. Phillips Memorial Scholarship for work in the T.W. Bonner Nuclear Laboratory

 

Award will be $5,500 for a nominal 10-week period

Application Due Date: Monday, April 12, 2021

 

Application materials include:

  1. a cover page listing:
    1. proposal title
    2. your name
    3. your email address
    4. your research advisor
    5. your academic year (freshman, sophomore, junior)
    6. length of time you have worked with the advisor if any
    7. whether you plan to continue this research for a senior thesis if you are currently a junior
  2. a one-page summary outlining the proposed research experience, prepared in consultation with your proposed P&A faculty mentor, including a general overview accessible to a non-specialist, a description of the specific topic you will study and how it connects to the big picture, a description of what you will be doing, and a discussion of what you hope to learn.
  3. an unofficial transcript

 

E-mail all materials to Prof. Geurts (geurts@rice.edu)

Arecibo Observatory Undergraduate Research Experience

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Description

Research Program

Students and Teachers selected for the program will work with staff scientists on projects related to ongoing research or instrumentation development. Students will be exposed to the interdisciplinary character of this unique research facility through lectures by the staff and visiting scientists, seminar series, tours of the observatory facilities and frequent informal discussions with staff and scientists. Students are also expected to have the opportunity to conduct hands-on observing with the 305-m telescope.

Applications for the REU/RET program should be made via the online form. You will be required to upload supporting documents and to nominate 1 referee if you are applying as an undergraduate or 1 referee if you are applying as a teacher.

Research Areas

Atmospheric Science

The Space and Atmospheric Sciences program at the Arecibo Observatory uses the world’s most sensitive incoherent scatter radar to study the Earth’s ionosphere from negative ions and meteoric dust in the D-region (60-80 km altitude), molecular and metallic ions in the E-region (90-150 km), and light ions and electrons in the F-region and above. We also use optical instruments such as airglow imagers, photometers, spectrometers, and Fabry-Perot interferometers to study the neutral composition and dynamics of these same regions. Lidars probe the mesosphere and thermosphere from 80-105 km for metal atom chemistry, dynamics, and temperatures. These measurements teach us about plasma physics, Space Weather, meteor ablation, ion-neutral chemistry, waves, turbulence and other phenomena at the edge of space.

Recent REU projects include studies and analysis of basic ionospheric parameters, development of new analysis techniques using wavelet analysis, investigations of the effects of geomagnetic storms, the nature of neutral metal layers in the thermosphere, development and implementation of new airglow and lidar observational and calibration methods, and studies of the global effects of sudden warmings of the stratosphere over the winter pole. Students enjoy the camaraderie of REU students in radio and planetary astronomy, engineering and computing and participate in a group project in one of the three major research fields at Arecibo.

Engineering / Computer Science

In the past, REU students had the to opportunity design, implement and/or test instrumentation systems. These are just few examples: Up-Down-Converter for 12m Antenna – Implementation and Testing, 2012; Doppler Correction FPGA Module for Radar, 2012; 10GbE High Speed Data Capture, 2011; Web Interface for Compressors Monitoring System, 2011; High Dynamic Range 430MHz Low Noise Amplifier, 2011-2012.

Also, recently one of our computer science students designed a web-based monitoring tool to facilitate the visualization of the site’s generators in real time, as well as to provide historic records of the generator’s operations, mainly their diesel consumption. The tool allows the user to filter the data according to time range. The filtered data then generates a series of charts, the critical ones presenting the daily diesel consumption in a month per generator and the diesel consumption by every charging group or equipment according to time.

The tasks assigned to the student are generally part of actual projects at the Observatory, but sometimes are new ideas, or part of proposals with Universities.

Citizenship Required

No

Apply between Mar 15, 2021 – Apr 15, 2021
Website (not yet updated): http://www.naic.edu/pkg/webutils/REUT2020/

Register for the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium

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RURS 2021

Registration for the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium is now open!

 

RURS is a celebration of undergraduate research accomplishment at Rice designed to connect students with their communities and put research in context. Researchers dialogue with and receive feedback from scholars, professionals, and advocates to develop an understanding of the purpose as well as the quality of research at Rice. Entrants may also opt to be considered for recognition of research merit in addition to receiving qualitative feedback from evaluators. Additionally, students may nominate their mentors to receive recognition. Both poster and oral presentations are welcome. Our theme for this year is “PPE for Reenvisioning Research: Passion, Perseverance, and Exploration” and we encourage students from all disciplines to apply.
RURS will be held virtually on Wednesday, April 21st through the ForagerOne Symposium platform. Live poster & oral presentations will occur on the event day. Pre-recorded presentation submissions will be accepted as well, and published on the event platform. To register, students must respond to a brief questionnaire and submit an abstract for their research by 11:59 PM on Thursday, March 25th.Student participants can find the application here.

 

For more information, please check the RURS website or email rurs@rice.edu. We are also hosting an Abstract Workshop (3/2 from 3-4 p.m.), Information Session (3/4 from 6-7 p.m.), and Poster Workshop (4/5 from 12-1 p.m.). We look forward to celebrating the outstanding and diverse research carried out by Rice undergraduates!

 

Best,

Anika Sonig and Linda Liu

RURS 2021 Co-Chairs

Office of Undergraduate Research & Inquiry

 

CCT REU: Interdisciplinary Research Experience in Computational Sciences

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The Center for Computation & Technology (CCT) will host a virtual ten week Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program where students work collaboratively on a wide variety of computational science projects. Each student receives a stipend of $8,000. Twelve students will be selected.

Qualifications:
Undergraduate, community college student, or high school senior attending college in the fall, interested in a major that is within the computational sciences umbrella (leaves out few majors as it includes all sciences, mathematics, engineering, finance, statistics, etc.) with at least a 2.75 GPA, considering a career in research and/or graduate school in your major, being a US citizen or permanent resident, and graduating at least one semester after completion of the REU.

Important Dates:
   February 28, 2021: Application deadline.
   March 20, 2021: Notification of decision.
   May 24, 2021 through July 30, 2021: Program dates.

The research activities of the CCT are organized into five Focus Areas: Core Computing Sciences, Coast to Cosmos, Material World, Cultural Computing, and System Science and Engineering. These are broad, and sometimes overlapping areas where faculty from diverse departments (Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, Civil Engineering, Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computing Engineering, Music, Business, etc.) collaborate in multidisciplinary projects. Our REU students learn how to use some of the nation’s largest supercomputers, may participate in the setup and management of large-scale simulations, and may take on an important role in the analysis and visualization of the simulation results.

For more information and to apply, visit:  http://reu.cct.lsu.edu/
_________________________________________

The LSU Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, is an innovative research environment, advancing computational sciences, technologies and the disciplines they touch. Researchers at CCT use the advanced cyberinfrastructure – high-speed networks, high-performance computing, advanced data storage and analysis and hardware and software development – available on campus to enable research in many different fields. By uniting researchers from diverse disciplines, ideas and expertise are disseminated across LSU departments to foster knowledge and invention. For more information on the CCT, visit:  http://www.cct.lsu.edu.

OURI Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) March 22 deadline

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OURI is now accepting applications for our Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)! Accepted fellows receive $3,000 for mentored research, design, or creative work conducted with a Rice Faculty member. Rice undergraduates from ALL disciplines are invited to apply to the summer 2021 cohort. Priority deadline is March 22, 2021.

Who is eligible? If you are a current undergraduate student from an underrepresented or under-resourced background, looking to get started in research at Rice, and planning to enroll full-time in Fall 2021.

Not sure where to start? Browse our list of over 20 potential SURF mentors* to see if there is a project that interests you.

Have questions? Program and application questions can be sent to Corin Bauman, SURF program coordinator, cb63@rice.edu.

*Note: Potential mentors are not limited to this list. Applicants can apply with any Rice-affiliated mentor who will mentor the student in a summer research project.

Paid APS/IBM Research Internships for women and underrepresented minorities

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Looking for a paid summer internship to enhance your STEM education? Interested in working at a world-class research facility? APS and IBM co-sponsor two undergraduate research internship programs for women and underrepresented minorities.

The goals of these programs are to encourage women and underrepresented minority undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies in science and engineering. They are also enticing to students because:

  • Both internship programs feature salaried positions at IBM Research locations that are typically 10 weeks long.
  • These internships provide an opportunity for interns to work closely with an IBM mentor.
  • You will have the opportunity to travel to either San Jose, CA, Austin, TX, or Yorktown Heights, NY for these positions.

The undergraduate women internships are located at any of the locations, and the research internships for underrepresented minorities are located in San Jose, CA. While the Austin lab focuses on research for software and systems, the other programs have a full range of research opportunities.
Learn More
Applications and letters of recommendation are due by February 15, 2021. Please refer to the application process for further details on how to apply.

Spring 2021 NASA Pathways Announcements

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Here is some info to share among Rice colleagues and departments as well as other academic and technical contacts regarding the Spring 2021 call for NASA Pathways (formerly NASA Co-op) Program.  We are looking forward to having talented student applicants that are excited about aerospace and human spaceflight!  The internships will begin in August 2021.  Thanks for helping us to spread the word.

 

Pathways Intern announcements will be open 2/1/2021 through 2/5/2021. Direct links to the job announcements will be posted soon.

  1. Go to USAJobs to create an account:Applicants must click on ‘create a login.gov account’ in the red box and follow the prompts. Once they have created the account, click ‘continue’ to log back into USAJobs. Please note that it is very important for applicants to retain their login information, as passwords are not easily reset in the system.
  2. Create a profile:Before an applicant can apply, they will need to complete their profile. They will need to select ‘Complete Profile.’
  3. Build a Resume:After applicants complete a profile, they will need to build a resume. In past cycles, the system did not allow applicants to upload documents, but now that is a requirement. Please pay attention to any required documentation listed in the announcement.
  4. Set up a Job Alert:Create an alert through the ‘saved search’ function. Saved searches will automatically search for jobs based on search criteria and email applicants when there are new jobs available. Pathways announcements are listed as ‘Student Trainee’ roles.
  5. Once applicants have set up their alert, they will be notified when Pathways vacancies open. Once an opportunity is posted, they can follow the instructions in the ‘How to Apply’ section of the announcement.

Note: Please encourage applicants to read the postings in their entirety to understand the unique requirements for each announcement.   

Outreach Resources

The attached USAJobs application tip sheet is designed to assist students with navigating the application process. The Guide for Recruiting Pathways Interns is a template to assist you in conducting outreach. Please share this with your employees and networks as you see fit.

Connect with NASA Internships here:

 

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