What does PURE offer? – PURE Research Program
The PURE Research Program is an interdisciplinary program in the College of Engineering pairing freshman and sophomore undergraduates with research mentors. The general goal of the program is to encourage underclassmen to explore research at an early stage in their academic career.
The program pairs up 1-2 undergraduate students with a graduate student or professor mentor. Each pair will decide on a project to work on throughout the semester. All undergraduate mentees will write a 1-2 page summary and give a presentation at the end of each semester on what they have done/learned. Mentors benefit since PURE is flexible with their schedules, providing them undergraduate researchers with the desired skill set and inspirations who make great early additions to a research team. The structure of PURE, including events such as the presentation workshop, also trains mentees about the discipline of engineering research.
To get a feel for what these presentations looks like, please refer to the PURE Archive.
How can I participate as an undergraduate student?
Undergraduate students will participate in a semester long project with his/her graduate mentor. Responsibilities may include:
- Drafting a goal statement at the beginning of the program
- Establishing an agreement for course credit for PURE via ENG 199/ECE 297
- Meeting weekly with the graduate mentor
- Completing learning/researching tasks
- Giving a presentation at the end of each semester
How can I participate as a graduate student and what’s the expected commitment?
Graduate students are encouraged to participate as PURE mentors. You are also more than welcome to provide us with suggestions and feedback. A mentor’s responsibilities mainly include:
- Helping the mentee set semester goal
- Introducing them to your field of research as well as your research group
- Meeting weekly with the mentee to give guidance and check on status (tip: develop a project timeline)
- Keeping in contact with the PURE committee and provide suggestions / feedback
- Participating in PURE social events / talks (optional)
- Committing about 1-2 hours per week for mentoring.