Undergraduate Research Opportunities (UROP) in Materials Science and Engineering

The DMSE Course 3 UROP Faculty Coordinator starting Summer 2021 is Professor Lorna Gibson.

If you have questions pertaining to the Course 3 UROP program, please contact dmse-ugoffice@mit.edu and/or Prof. Gibson.

What is a UROP?

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) is one of the earliest programs of its kind in the United States. It encourages and supports research-based intellectual collaborations of MIT undergraduates with Institute faculty members. It is administered by the UROP Office, part of the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming, and is located in 7-104 (x3-7306). Consult the UROP Office web pages for guidance and procedures for setting up a UROP.

Every undergraduate is welcome to participate in every phase of research activity: proposal writing, establishing research protocol, conducting actual research work, analyzing data, and presenting results in oral and written forms. Participation means taking on a research project either for academic credit or for pay, or as a volunteer. A paid project may be directly funded by the UROP office, or your faculty advisor may support it from research funds. The project may last the equivalent of one semester, but most continue a year or more.

Our department requires all lab workers to complete the Institute Environmental Health and Safety Training on Chemical Hygiene and Handling Hazardous Waste, along with any additional training that is provided by the laboratory in which the student will be working. For information, contact Mary Lindstrom, EHS Coordinator at x4-8161.

Finding UROP Positions

The best way to find a UROP is to look at the research interests of the faculty on the Departmental web page, and contact them directly. If you are enthusiastic and motivated, you should be able to find a UROP position by asking several faculty. Some faculty advertise on their web pages, but most do not, so the best approach is to contact them.