TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCES

URECA grants let undergraduates develop skills and take life-changing steps for the future

Opportunities offered by MTSU’s Undergraduate Research Center (URC) can enhance the undergraduate experience and make students more competitive when they apply for jobs or to graduate or professional schools.

The URC’s flagship initiative is the Undergraduate Research Experience and Creative Activity (URECA) program, which annually awards $135,000 in grants to fund student projects from across the academic spectrum.

Such grants have allowed students to travel abroad, attend national conferences, or simply have the financial flexibility to spend extra time in the lab, field, or studio.

Depending on the level and type of grant, it lasts one or two semesters, represents 50–350 hours of work, and pays $500 to $3,500 plus expenses such as travel and materials.

Recipients must present their finished work and can showcase it at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Open House or at the Research and Creative Activity Exposition during Scholars Week. Said David Butler, Vice Provost for Research and Dean, College of Graduate Studies.

It’s a way of evolving as an undergraduate researcher towards a more advanced researcher through multiple applications, not unlike what a faculty member or graduate student has to do— submitting a grant, getting that grant successfully, executing it, getting your result, publishing on it, and then reapplying, using your track record of success as an indicator of the next step.

URECA grants have gotten more competitive with a recent surge in applications, but roughly half are chosen, says Jamie Burriss, who oversees the URC. A sampling of success stories here shows how MTSU undergraduate scholars thrive in this nurturing environment, taking the germ of an idea into full fruition of a real research project.