How to Apply for a URO Position and Find out Who was Selected



Faculty

To become a faculty mentor, please complete the on-line application.

Students

[To find out how to get involved in research in general and for tips that can be helpful for your URO application, check out these five resources: 1) Click here for the PowerPoint file of Rebecca Brown's Unlocking the Key to Undergraduate Research presentation at the August 25, 2005 info session. 2) Leah Carroll of the Haas Scholars Program holds several workshops specifically on how to get started in research. For more info and a schedule of workshops, please visit http://research.berkeley.edu/haas_scholars/schedule.html. Also, Leah has a whole bunch of other relevant documents at this URL. 3) Mark Chew, a reseacher in Prof. Pister's lab, has posted on this webpage thoughts on his experiences; 4) Dr. Sheila Humphreys of EECS has recorded Prof. Neureuther's thoughts on getting started in research. Click here for this document.

To find out about other research opportunities across campus, please visit the Undergraduate Research@Berkeley website.]

1. Find out more about URO and how to get involved in research by attending the URO/research info session on Friday, August 25th at 3:00 p.m in the Wozniak Lounge (Soda Hall). Check back later for more details or follow this link - News.

2. Decide which professor's position interests you (see URO Projects).

3. Acquaint yourself with that professor's research. The departmental websites have links to faculty pages, which oftentimes have bibliographies of selected publications. (Departmental websites can be accessed from the College of Engineering home page.)

4. Possibly visit the professor during office hours to find out more about the project, to introduce yourself, and to see how you get along with the professor. Before doing this, read the section about approaching a mentor in Mark Chew's page (mentioned above). Former Bioengineering research coordinator Ana Maron has also commented, "Before speaking with a faculty member, ask yourself what you wish to get out of the meeting.... Remember, you are initiating the meeting and should have a clear idea of its purpose. The more prepared you are for the meeting, the more satisfying its results are likely to be. Faculty members want to be of assistance to you, but they can't help you if they don't know what kind of help you need."

5. Before actually applying for a position, realistically analyze if you can fulfill the time commitment required by the professor. (The professor can tell you the minimum number of required hours/week.) As one professor has indicated, "Unlike classes, this is a commitment from day one (i.e., be prepared to do it, and spend X hours per week on it, or don't sign up)."

6. Once you have decided what position to apply for, complete the application.

7. You may get a call or e-mail for an interview -- some professors interview applicants, while others do not.

How to Find Out Who was Selected

8. Visit the URO Projects page beginning 9/11/06 to see if you've been selected. (Names of selected students will replace the word "Open" after each professor's position, once we receive notification from the professor.)

9. If you've been selected, visit the Now What? page to learn how to start your URO Program year.

Best of luck!