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Watch this page for perspectives on undergraduate research, news, and award information.
UROP Proposals for Student and Equipment Requested
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) provides undergraduates at any of the nine North Dakota University System campuses the opportunity to partner with a faculty member on STEM related research.
To participate, a student, in coordination with a faculty mentor, submits a proposal which outlines the semester or year long research. Students are paid up to $2,000, and allocated up to $400 for materials and project expenses.
A second track of the UROP invites proposals from faculty for medium scale research instrumentation that can be used to sustain undergraduate research. Requests up to $20,000 will be considered.
The deadline for proposal is 11 p.m. on Monday, February 24, 2025.
Scoring rubrics used by jurors are provided for both tracks [Student] | [Equipment].
Funds are provided by the ND EPSCoR office at NDSU in a partnership with UND, and are available through June 2025.
UROP Update January 2025
The second request-for-proposals resulted in three student and five equipment proposals.
Proposals were reviewed with three student and four equipment proposals funded, totaling $72,988.
Student projects funded:
- Preventing Childhood Obesity – Are Children Physically Active at Daycare?
- Student: Hayden Tinker
- Faculty: Dr. Yung-Ju ‘Ruth’ Chen
- Affiliation: Minot State University.
- The City of Bismarck Sewage Sludge as Agriculture Fertilizer
- Student: Carl Tjernlund,
- Faculty: Dr. Marko Davinic
- Affiliation: Bismarck State University
- Unraveling the phytochemistry, biological, and pharmacological activities of plants native to North Dakota
- Student: Carl Askin
- Faculty: Dr. Jinasena Hewage, Dr. Samanthika Hettiarachchi
- Affiliation: Dickinson State University
Equipment projects funded:
- Accelerometers, Dr. Yung-Ju ‘Ruth’ Chen, Kinesiology, Department of Science, Minot State University
- Sonication for Science, Genevieve Kahrilas, PhD, School of Science and Health Sciences, Chemistry
- Organic Carbon in Wetland and Lake Sediments: Informing Agricultural Practices and Mitigating Climate Change, Dr. Michelle Abshire, Science Department, Valley City State University
- Plant the Moon, Joseph L. Pettit, Rachel Schomaker, Biology, Minot State University
A third round is currently open and proposals are encouraged.
Request for Proposals, Fall 2024
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) provides undergraduates at any of the nine North Dakota University System campuses the opportunity to partner with a faculty member on STEM related research.
To participate, a student, in coordination with a faculty mentor, submits a short proposal which outlines the semester or year long research. Students are paid up to $2,000, and allocated up to $400 for materials and project expenses.
A second track of the UROP invites proposals from faculty for medium scale research instrumentation that can be used to sustain undergraduate research. Requests up to $20,000 will be considered.
The deadline for proposal is 11 p.m. on Monday, September 23, 2024.
Scoring rubrics used by jurors are provided for both tracks [Student] | [Equipment].
Funds are provided by the ND EPSCoR office at NDSU in a partnership with UND, and are available through June 2025.
UROP Update April 2024
The first request-for-proposals ended on Monday, April 1, 2024, with eight requests from students, and nine equipment requests from faculty, from three campuses.
Proposals were reviewed with four equipment and five student proposals funded, totaling $80,199.
- Game Design and Virtual Reality Laboratory at VCSU, S. Pfeifer, VCSU
- PIT tagging Equipment for Tracking North Dakota Freshwater Mussel Species, A. Delorme, VCSU
- Investigating Knickpoint Migration and Slumping in Souris River Coulees by Modelling Sediment Behavior, J. Collette, MSU
- Minot State University Observatory Revitalization Project, N. George, MSU
- vDUNE Outreach and Education Project, C. Schwartzkopf, VCSU
- Using eDNA to Detect Freshwater Mussel Species in North Dakota Waters, L. Roth, VCSU
- Pit Tagging Project, J. Johnson, VCSU
- Ultrasound Study of Musculoskeletal Changes in Collegiate Baseball Players and Range of Motion, C. Meldrim, MSU
- The effects of detailed process-oriented directions on young children’s TGMD-3 ball skill performance and ball velocity, V. Adetti, MSU
The next round is anticipated to be announced by August 5, 2024.
Watch these pages for further updates.
UROP RFP Announced
The UROP program supports faculty-mentored and STEM-focused research for undergraduates within the North Dakota Higher Education System.
Students interested in pursuing research would consult with a prospective faculty member on the project idea, then work together on the development of a short proposal that communicates the essence and scope of the intended work.
The deadline for proposal is 11 p.m. on Monday, April 1, 2024.
Students are paid up to $2,000, and allocated up to $400 for materials and project expenses.
For perspective on what other students have worked on, review the titles and abstracts of projects previously awarded in a related program.
Afterwards review the required proposal outline and which includes the proposal criteria rubric, noting that projects that draw from multiple disciplines may be scored higher, increasing the likelihood of funding.
Proposals will be evaluated and ranked by members of the UROP Advisory Council, reaching out to any of these for advice would prove useful.
The UROP also provides funding for medium scale research instrumentation that are useful to undergraduate research. Requests for up to $20,000 will be considered via a short proposal.
Scoring rubrics are provided for both tracks [Student] | [Equipment].
Funds are provided by the ND EPSCoR office at NDSU in a partnership with UND, and are available through June 2025.
We encourage your participation in these research opportunities.
UROP Press Release
A grant program to stimulate undergraduate research at the nine primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI) and five tribal colleges and universities (TCU) in North Dakota is being piloted for 2024-2025 in a partnership with the North Dakota EPSCoR office at NDSU in Fargo and in Valley City at Valley City State University (VCSU).
Engaging undergraduates in the solutions of hard problems in the STEM disciplines is one of two tracks offered by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).
In the first track, students are invited to identify challenging problems that capture their imagination, and to solicit faculty for mentorship. Together the student and mentor develop a short proposal for submission to the UROP offices for consideration, in a process that follows competitive grant writing protocols. Typically, projects are designed for one semester, or might extend over a summer. Reporting and dissemination follow.
The second track is to provide research grade equipment to the PUI and TCU campuses that can be used to sustain undergraduate research activities for years to come. Faculty are invited to solicit UROP with proposals that stimulate multiple student impact.
Prompting students to practice thinking like a researcher is a motivation for UROP. Critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, and data management are prevalent research skills, but so are communication, collaboration, time management, planning and budgeting.
“These skills are invaluable for so many careers, and in their development, we hope to service the growing demand for STEM workers in North Dakota,” suggests project director, David DeMuth, Jr., a long-time VCSU Professor of Physics, “and to hone the students abilities for graduate study at NDSU and the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks (UND).”
DeMuth noted that faculty at PUI and TCU campuses tend to be more focused on teaching and less so on research, at least in a comparison to colleagues at NDSU and UND.
“And that might be okay,” he suggested, “but when joining a campus as a freshly minted Ph.D, faculty are distinguished experts and offer unique research capacities that can be tuned for undergraduate participation.” The UROP provides a mechanism for high level engagement, a “different kind of classroom.”
UROP participation is a student’s ticket to discovery: in innovating solutions to challenging problems, and for their self-discovery and validation as being a researcher.
The deadline for proposals for work during the Summer and Fall of 2024 is March 15, 2024.
UROP: Why Participate
Making the most of your undergraduate experience entails beating through the hard classes, building relationships, celebrating yours and your friend’s successes, and possibly, participating in what educators call a “High Impact Learning Practice.” These include conducting research with a faculty mentor, traveling abroad to study for a semester, or partnering with other students on completing a selected sequence of courses.
Conducting research as an undergraduate is really a different type of “classroom” experience, its one that is necessarily hands-on, highly interactive with faculty, and more often than not pursuing a solution to one of your own problems or developing an entrepreneurial idea. And oh wait, you get paid!
Key here is that in a context of your own academic endeavors you seek to resolve a significant challenge over a period of months and at a pace that suits your schedule. For example you may fancy developing an IoT project that instruments a greenhouse with monitoring and control, study a technique to minimize ankle sprang in woman’s basketball, or choreograph a tribal dance for elementary students which demonstrates the impact of fracking on a rural community or reservation.
Obviously a goal for you must be to graduate with at least some distinctions: accomplishments or activities that might grab the attention of a potential employer, or a graduate school recruiter, maybe impress a companion. Some students are awesome in sports, others academics, some both and earning highest honors, others manage with average grades but are punctual, respectful, curious; with researching solutions to problems, in reality the essential ingredients are having an inquisitive soul and a tenacious spirit, while in this case the projects we are encouraging will require 120+ hours of your effort.
Participating in research or creative activities via the UROP program provides the unique opportunity to distinguish yourself alongside a faculty mentor, whatever your academic background is, and likely energizing a relationship that will continue beyond your undergraduate days. A faculty-mentored research experience will certainly be a feather in your cap for any medical or graduate school application, but may also indicate your ability to stand against the fray, to understand complicated situations, resolve issues, behaviors consistent with say being a Director or CEO.
Some students admit: “who me, research, really, do I have to wear a white coat and a pocket protector full of pencils?” Actually beyond any stereotypes, you might find yourself chest deep in the Sheyenne River’s muck sampling mussel populations, investigating the chronology of a black cadet’s eventual command of the Tenth Calvary and his influence on post Civil War officerships, wearing VR glasses and designing exploratory landscapes in virtual reality as a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s, or traveling to South Dakota to help build components for the installation of high energy particle detector located nearly one mile underground.
There really is no end to the topics that could be explored. So why participate? To learn, to inquire, to discover, and to solve a problem or create a tapestry in a rich learning environment that you can not match in any traditional classroom.
It’s up to you what creative practice to embrace and to leverage the SOAR program for that outcome. Every student who participates in a project will report “wow, I would do that again, what an amazing experience!”
So what are you waiting for, find a faculty mentor and apply!
A Different Kind of Classroom
Typical to the daily activities of college students are classes, taking notes, completing homework assignments, preparing for exams, and then celebrating hard earned grades.
“Exploring new phenomena, designing experiments, breaking through roadblocks, reporting findings is a different kind of classroom,” suggests VCSU physics instructor and Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program director Dr. David DeMuth.
“While more common to NDSU and UND students, undergraduate research is a high-impact learning practice that creates connections between students and researchers.” DeMuth contends that research work should not be exclusive to the so-called research institutions. His passion is to ensure that students at the smaller campuses in North Dakota also have access to this impactful practice.
Supported by the ND EPSCoR office at NDSU, the UROP seeks to incentivize faculty-mentored undergraduate research at the four 4-year, five 2-year, and five tribal colleges in North Dakota. Interested students solicit the program office with a short proposal which outlines their methods, timeline, and budget. A faculty-mentor of their liking provides guidance. Together they solve complex problems and then report findings at local or regional conferences.
For example, at VCSU, then undergraduate Victoria Christensen had a notion that the whelping of herding dogs used on her father’s Montana ranch were being challenged by an unknown toxic environment. Partnering with toxicologist and VCSU professor Dr. Hilde van Gijssel, over one year’s time the explored the symptoms, designed an experiment that would provide clues to abating the situation in subsequent years; Victoria’s project proposal “Canine Parvovirus-2 Prevention Study“.
The skillset acquired in butting one’s head against a tough problem and tenaciously solving, then explaining the problem is valued in nearly every profession, and the workforce and industry in the region knows that. Victoria’s experiences at VCSU and her dual chemistry and biology degree were just the right mix to now be working as a chemist in western North Dakota.
Undergraduate research opportunities programs are relatively common at teaching-focused campuses such as VCSU in Valley City, North Dakota but the number of participants is often constrained by the institution’s faculty members whose desired focus tends to be teaching. That’s okay, according to DeMuth, faculty who are accomplished teacher deserve applause, as do those steeped in service such as advising, but some of us have a real knack for research, and the UROP seeks to support that interest.