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For the second time, the Office of Undergraduate Research will host the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium from 2-4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 5 in the Reaud Executive Event Space.

Comprised of presentations from 12 students across Â鶹ÊÓƵ academic colleges, the forum will highlight the summer research projects and discoveries in STEM and HASBSEB academic areas with topics ranging from vibrational motion and the analysis of solar events to the physics of wet surfaces and the growth of cellulose-based nanocomposites.

In addition to a rich research experience sheltered in well-equipped academic labs and being mentored by Â鶹ÊÓƵ faculty mentors, each SURF Fellow is awarded a $2,000 stipend, $1,000 in research support, free housing for ten weeks of summer and $500 in travel support to disseminate their research results to conferences during the next academic year.

“At the SURF Symposium, each SURF Fellow will present a progress report about their research experience, findings and results gathered over summer.  However, the last formal step of the SURF program, will be in November, when each SURF team will give an oral presentation and publish a paper in the proceedings of one of the two OUR sponsored conferences,” said Dr. Christian Bahrim, faculty mentor and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. 

The 10th annual Texas STEM conference will be held on Nov. 5 and the 9th annual HASBSEB Conference will be hosted on Nov. 19. Bahrim said both conferences will feature talks and poster presentations given by graduate and undergraduate students from Â鶹ÊÓƵ and other schools from Texas and nearby states. 

“In the last year couple of years, we had graduate and undergraduate student presenters from Rice, UT Austin, University of Houston, Texas A&M, Auburn University and University of Alabama. This year we have the privilege to welcome two outstanding international recognized speakers; Dr. Prigmore, an electrical engineer Â鶹ÊÓƵ alumnus now at Google Inc. as an electrical quality engineering and technical program manager; and Dr. Juan Llopis, professor (Catedratico) of business and director of the Institutional Relations and Projects at the University of Alicante, Spain,” Bahrim said.

The Office of Under Graduate Research serves as a resource for all undergraduate majors at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. The department also helps students engage in collaborative research with faculty members and provides funding opportunities and scholarships to bolster student research. Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s SURF program was designed from the nationally recognized Research Experience for Undergraduates programs, allowing undergraduate students at Â鶹ÊÓƵ to have a rich summer research experience. 

Learn more about the Office of Undergraduate Research