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Participation Considerations

Departmental Options

Several MIT departments offer special UROP opportunities unique to their majors or those considering their majors, which we have highlighted in this section.

Details on current departmental offerings follow below :

SuperUROP

The MIT EECS department launched SuperUROP in 2012 in response to students’ requests for a deeper undergraduate research experience. Since that time SuperUROP has expanded to other departments within the School of Engineering, including Aeronautics and Astronautics, Biological Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering.

Through SuperUROP, students participate in a year-long research experience and a complimentary course titled “Preparation for Undergraduate Research,” which covers a range of subjects, from selecting projects, entrepreneurship, and ethics in engineering.

Participating students are given access to facilities that would otherwise be open only to graduate students. SuperUROP students also receive a certificate in advanced undergraduate research with a designated focus area at the end of the year.

The unique relationship that SuperUROP students develop with faculty advisors and associated research groups, plus the connection with an industry mentor can help jumpstart participants toward graduate school, positions in industry, or initiating a startup company.

Visit the SuperUROP site for details.

UROP+ (Supervised UROP)

In the summer, the Mathematics Department offers several UROP+ positions, which give MIT undergraduates an opportunity to work on a research project under the guidance of a graduate student mentor. UROP+ students will work full time for three months (June-August), meeting with their mentors individually for 1.5 hours twice a week (up to 50% of these discussions can be on Skype, if you or they or both are away); the schedule can be adjusted to the student’s and the mentor’s schedules.

Visit the Math website for details.

Course 1 Mini-UROP

The Civil and Environmental Engineering department offers a mini-UROP program during IAP that is designed to offer first-year undergraduates a taste of the research conducted in CEE.

In the program, students work closely with either a grad student or postdoc on a research project in an in-depth lab experience over three weeks. At the end of the three weeks, mini-UROP participants present their research in “lightning” presentations to an audience of their peers and CEE community members. Many mini-UROPs have the opportunity to develop into full term UROPs in the spring. Projects range from designing a city on Mars to creating durable, eco-friendly concrete using recycled materials.

For more information, contact the CEE Academic Programs Office (APO) at cee-apo@mit.edu.