Individual URAP: 1:1 Faculty-Student Research

• Learning Agreement:
  In collaboration with their faculty mentor, students will complete and sign a learning agreement outlining the semester’s research activities, commitments, and expected deliverables.

• Research Trainings:
  Students will participate in training opportunities relevant to their project—such as ethical data collection, qualitative and quantitative methods, digital tools, or archival research—and are expected to engage fully in these learning experiences.

• Tasks & Activities:
  Faculty advisors will assign tasks throughout the semester that students are expected to complete in a timely manner. Examples of possible activities include: archival or literature research, data collection or analysis, GIS or digital mapping, public history, policy work, database development, and/or using tools like R, Python, OpenRefine, or GitHub.

• Regular Meetings:
  Students and faculty should set up and maintain recurring meetings to review progress, ask questions, discuss research challenges, follow up on assigned tasks, and outline next steps for the project.

• Final Deliverable:
  Students are required to complete a final project, which may take the form of a paper, poster, oral presentation, or another format appropriate to the nature of the research and the faculty mentor’s expectations. This deliverable must be submitted to the faculty mentor by the end of the semester and approved to indicate satisfactory completion, which is required for the student to receive their stipend.

• Time Commitment:
  Devote approximately 9 hours per week to research activities, including readings, discussions, trainings, meetings, and assigned tasks.

• Earn 3 credit hours through LA 331R. Note that this is not a class that physically meets, but rather, the mechanism to obtain course credit for program completion.
• Eligible students will receive a monetary stipend for their satisfactory completion of the program. Eligibility is determined by a student’s registration status, the semester in which they are participating, and successful completion of the earlier URAP phases (i.e., Pathways to Research and, in particular, Cohort URAP).
• Students are strongly encouraged—although not required—to present their research at an organized forum. One recommended opportunity is the Capital of Texas Undergraduate Research Conference.

• Student must be a COLA major.
• Faculty must have a valid COLA instructional appointment.
• Students must register for a 3‑credit course (LA 331R). If needed, the URAP team can assist eligible students in increasing their credit‑hour limit beyond 17 hours.

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1. Connect with a Faculty Mentor

• Identify a faculty-initiated research project you'd like to work on and reach out to the faculty member to discuss.
• Obtain confirmation of the faculty member's participation before applying.

 

2. Submit Application
Access the Application Portal (link will be posted here when applications are open). On the application, you will:

• Describe your proposed research project.
• Share relevant information about your experience, skills, and goals. 

 

3. Selection Process

• Applications are reviewed by a COLA committee.
• Initial acceptances are made, then program staff reach out to faculty mentors to confirm participation. 
• The committee then finalizes funding decisions for eligible students.
• Students will be notified of their acceptance status.

• Cohort URAP Continuing Researcher Pathway
  A strongly encouraged pathway into Individual URAP is through initial participation in Cohort URAP. Through the cohort experience, faculty may invite students who show excellence and commitment to the project to continue working on their research team beyond the cohort via Individual URAP.

• Prior Coursework or Academic Relationships
  Students who have taken classes or labs with a faculty member who shares their interests often reach out to express interest in joining that professor's research projects. Likewise, faculty may invite former students who have demonstrated curiosity, commitment, and strong academic performance to join their current research projects.

• Research Matching
  In some cases, students and faculty connect through research matching platforms such as Eureka or the Humanities Institute's Faculty-Student Research Partnership Program. While these pathways can occasionally lead to research opportunities, students are most successful when they build on existing academic relationships.

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