Undergraduate Research Task Force
The Undergraduate Research Task Force comprised of faculty, staff, and students aims to make world-class research a defining characteristic of the undergraduate experience at the University of Arizona.
Undergraduate research website
Undergraduate Research & Scholar Development
The Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholar Development, founded in 2023 as a result of the Undergraduate Research Task Force and situated within the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Office of the Provost, works to scale undergraduate research by:
a) working with units through the Undergraduate Research Alliance, including the Office of Societal Impact, the Graduate College, the Honors College, and the other collaborators across campus.
b) focusing on scaffolded integration of research into the curriculum across campus
c) administering the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program
d) launching the Semiconductor-sector Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) program in partnership with the Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing.
Task Force Overview
The Undergraduate Research Task Force, jointly led by the Office of the Provost and the Office for Research, Innovation, and Impact, started from the premise that every undergraduate student, by virtue of attending the University of Arizona, should be exposed to high-impact research experiences, understood to include creative activities, that are integral to the structure of every undergraduate program, including the general education core. These experiences should be so deeply embedded into our curricula that they could not be missed by any University of Arizona student. Students graduating from these programs would naturally learn to think like researchers and approach their post-graduate experiences with an inquisitiveness and creativity that will make them highly valued and sought after by both employers and graduate programs.
Task Force Outcomes
The task force created a plan whereby high-impact undergraduate research experiences occur as a matter of intentional curricular and programmatic design within every major, not through happenstance. The work of the task force was partitioned into six different dimensions that were separately studied and evaluated, prior to bringing these pieces together to create a cohesive plan of action. This process engaged the entire campus in honest, candid, and meaningful discussions about undergraduate research within the guideposts of each dimension.
Resources
Resources for task force and campus community. Access to some pages and folders are restricted.