Faculty are committed to the mutually supportive values of undergraduate teaching and academic research. Seeking to extend those values to its students, UMW has a well-established and nationally-recognized Undergraduate Research Grant Program, whereby collaborative teams of faculty member(s) and students apply for University-funded research project support. This grant program enables undergraduates to work intensively with faculty members on a broad range of research topics, work which in many instances leads to student presentations at state, regional, or national academic conferences. In some instances, undergraduate research grants support student travel for study, observation, and performance related to focused individual projects.
Students engaged in undergraduate research earn credits by registering for individual studies (courses numbered 491 or 492). Every academic discipline offered at the University has such courses available. Students should check with the department in which they are interested in doing an individual study because programs have specific requirements for enrolling in individual study courses.
Another undergraduate research option is the URES 197 Undergraduate Research course. In this case, the student works on the faculty member’s research project and completes research tasks connected with that project as determined by the faculty member. Beginning students are eligible to register for URES 197, and the students who complete URES 197 will likely develop their own individual study project at a later time, thereby building on initial research experiences. Individual studies are most often done by more advanced students (juniors and seniors) who have the necessary background to successfully formulate an individual study project.