Undergraduate Research Opportunities Online Database

We are seeking to expand the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Database to a multidisciplinary level. The multidisciplinary undergraduate opportunities database has the following three objectives: The first objective is to catalogue all research facilities at the University of British Columbia able to host undergraduate students as participants. This will include modification of the code for uploading positions to be applicable to fields outside of the sciences, and to include special considerations. For example, we have a request from TRIUMF to include an automatic update function for undergraduate opportunities TRIUMF would like to post. We have also been approached to post volunteer positions available to undergraduates from locations outside of UBC. The second objective is to help increase the interaction between students and researchers by allowing students to link e­portfolios, upload research proposals to faculty, and post final reports of their studies. The third objective is to make this cumulative information available to existing undergraduate programs such as the TLEF funded M.U.R.P., which are designed to improve students' research experiences, thereby reaching a large contingency of undergraduate students.

Following UBC's commitment to undergraduate research, a SKYLIGHT Development grant in 2003 funded the creation of this online database of research opportunities available to undergraduates in the departments of Zoology and Botany. This website allows researchers to self-advertise available undergraduate research positions, to which undergraduate students can apply. Continued funding from SKYLIGHT in 2004 allowed the expansion of this site to include the majority of faculties within the sciences. The site currently boasts over 200 advertised positions.

Celeste Leander, Botany, Faculty of Science