purdue undergraduate research

Undergraduate Admissions

Undergraduate Research

Make it healthier. Search for a cure. Make it better. Shape the future. Unravel a mystery. Do it at Purdue.

Undergraduates participate in nearly 2,000 research projects a year. Their interests are wide ranging. Their efforts are multidisciplinary. Their ideas are full of potential. And some of them get published.

As a research institution with a strong focus on undergraduate education, Purdue connects inquisitive minds with faculty and projects that allow them to explore and contribute to the development of new knowledge. Learn more about why and how Purdue undergraduates students get involved in research . 

• About the OUR
• Definitions
• Request a Consultation
• Request a Presentation
• Faculty & Staff Home
• Research Mentors
• What Other Faculty Are Saying
• CURE—Purdue Home
• Get Started in CUREs
• Previous Participant Information
• CURE Resources
• Get Started
• Successful Mentoring
• Mentoring Resources
• Find a Student Researcher
• Add Research to Your Course
• Mentoring FAQs
• Council on Undergraduate Research
• Research Roundtable
• Summer Research Program Information
• Consultation Request
• Students Home
• Search Opportunities
• Online Course Series
• OUR Scholars
• What Current Undergraduate Researchers Are Saying
• Undergrad Research Pitch Competition
• Get Published
• Market Your Research Experience
• Schedule an Appointment
• Undergraduate Research Society of Purdue
• OUR Ambassadors
• Conferences Home
• Fall Expo Information
• Fall Expo Deadlines
• Judge Registration and Information
• Photo Gallery
• Fall Expo Archives
• Spring Conference Information
• Conference Deadlines
• Conference Archives
• Celebrate Purdue's Thinkers, Creators, and Experimenters
• Celebrate FAQs
• Celebrate Archives
• Summer Symposium Information
• Past Abstracts
• Additional Purdue Conferences
• Scholarships & Grants
• OUR Scholarship
• Non-OUR Grants

Many resources are available to help students find research opportunities, prepare to be successful in research, and leverage research experiences to further their educational objectives. The following is a list of some other resources that may be useful:

• Summary of Purdue Research Programs
• Pathways to Science - A great resource for international students
• Pathways to Science – Tips on applying and associated resources
• Pathways to Science – financial support in graduate school. Fellowships and graduate programs in a wide variety of STEM disciplines
• Undergrad STEM Opportunities - Science.gov
• National and International Scholarships Office at Purdue -- Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants
• Arts & Humanities Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research
• Purdue Digital Humanities Toolbox
• SAGE Research Methods - Mostly for STEM disciplines
• Purdue Fellowship and Grant Writing Resources

Benefits of & Steps to Approach Undergraduate Research (pdf)  (to the right)

Undergraduate Research Learning Contract

Undergraduate researchers can submit a completed Undergraduate Research Learning Contract after collaborating with their research mentor to the Office of Undergraduate Research. You can see the full list of questions to work with your research mentor before completing by looking at this PDF .

**This contract does not sign you up for course credit. Contact your research mentor for this process.**

Library Resources

• Purdue Libraries - General Tutorials
• Purdue Libraries - Searching with Google Scholar
• Librarians by Subject

What does research involve?

So what is involved in research? What would you be doing, exactly? It all depends on your particular field of study. Those in the liberal arts, social sciences, business and economics might begin with researching journal articles on a subject. Sometimes you may be collecting data through interviews, observations or surveys, then analyzing that data to find patterns. Those in engineering or sciences may spend the bulk of their time conducting laboratory research, experiments, equipment and lab maintenance, and preparing samples. Ultimately, it depends on the questions you are trying to answer, but rest assured, research is an exciting experience!

Short Learning Modules

Undergraduate research experiences will develop many skills graduate/professional programs and employers will seek after you graduate such as critical thinking, initiative, professionalism, and communication. The Office of Undergraduate Research has compiled a learning module collection to assist aspiring and current undergraduate researchers make their experience a positive and effective experience.

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Video Series

Presented by: James Mohler, Ph.D., Purdue Research Integrity Officer

These longer videos can be useful for specific topics that come up in your research career, but they do not count as meeting the RCR discipline/field-specific training requirement alone.

• Meet the Ambassadors
• Ambassador Requests
• About the Ambassador Program
• Apply to be an Ambassador

• Quick Links
• Find Info For
• Current Students
• Prospective Students
• Entrepreneurship and Commercialization
• Institutes & Centers
• Research Innovation
• Regulatory Affairs
• Communications

Office of Research

The Purdue Office of Research fosters life-changing research, attracts world-class faculty, and enables teams to engage creatively around society’s biggest needs and pursue solutions not yet imagined.

Featured Research

Support services, office of research updates.

• OOR announces research funding application deadlines
• Purdue Excellence in Research Administration (PERA) system to go live this fall
• PPRI now accepting fall 2024 Diplomacy Lab bids: Round 2
• Explore Office of Research identified funding opportunities
• IRB updates office hours for summer 2024
• IRB seeks faculty engagement for improvements
• State of the Institute Seminar - September 9, 2024
• CERIAS Security Seminar: IDART (Information Design Assurance Red Team): A Red Team Assessment Methodology - September 11, 2024
• Center for Aging and the Life Course: Prevalence, Diagnosis, and Support for Persons with Neurodegenerative Disorders and their Care Partners in Urban and Rural Areas - September 13, 2024
• Space Assembly and Manufacturing Workshop - September 16, 2024
• Successful Grant Writing Strategies - September 17, 2024

See all events

Office of Research News

• Karen Plaut - PERA Update - September 4, 2024
• Purdue research team hopes to find treatments for chronic eye diseasesShakespeare wrote, “Eyes are the window to the soul.” However, many might not know that eyes are often related to many health conditions and are one of the most important organs of the human body. - September 4, 2024
• Early Career Editorial Board of Indoor Environments - September 4, 2024
• Purdue Polytechnic research team receives $900,000 NSF award to research engineering, technology students' problem solving, collaboration skills - September 4, 2024
• Polytechnic founds new Applied AI Research Center, appoints founding directors - September 4, 2024

See all news

COMMUNICATION

• OneCampus Portal
• Brightspace
• BoilerConnect
• Faculty and Staff
• Human Resources
• Colleges and Schools

INFORMATION

• Ethics & Compliance
• Purdue Postdoctoral Association
• Research Faculty Documents
• Purdue Policies
• Purdue Safety
• Purdue Hotline
• Undergraduate Research
• Office of Technology Commercialization

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (765) 494-4600

© 2024 Purdue University | An equal access/equal opportunity university | Copyright Complaints | Maintained by Office of Research

If you have trouble accessing this page because of a disability, please contact Office of Research at [email protected] .

Undergraduate Research Opportunities at Purdue - Research - College of Engineering - Purdue University

Undergraduate Research Opportunities at Purdue

Interested in discovering a world of opportunity through research? Check out Engineering  Symplicity portal  for research opportunities, projects, and updates! Here are some ways you could get involved in research at Purdue.

• SURF Application (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF))
• First Time Researcher Award  (First Time Researcher Award (FTR))
• Purdue Undergraduate Research Website (Office of Undergraduate Research)
• Other Purdue Undergraduate Summer Research Programs
• Global Engineering Programs and Partnerships (GEPP)
• Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program
• Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE)
• IAESTE (Global opportunities)
• Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)

Funding Opportunities at Purdue

• First-Time Researcher Fellowship (FTR Fellowship) (Apply via the  Engineering Symplicity  portal!) Application window: Sep 27 - Oct 14, 2022
• Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Scholarship
• Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Research Grants