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Undergraduate Research

In ICS, you don’t have to wait until graduate school to get involved in research. You can start today! Your work could help change the world, while also helping you prepare for more advanced research in graduate school. As an ICS undergraduate, you have the opportunity to work on research projects with world-class ICS faculty and graduate students, researchers across UCI, or researchers at off-campus laboratories, industry partners, or other universities.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at UCI encourages and facilitates research and creative activities for undergraduates from across campus as an integral component of their education.

The ICS Honors Program gives ICS undergraduates the opportunity to join ICS faculty in research and have their work recognized through presentations at professional meetings or research publications.

7 Steps to finding research at UCI

  1. Review the ICS faculty profiles or the UCI Faculty Profile System to find faculty conducting research you may be interested in.
  2. Once you find a professor, you need to get in contact with them (Have a back-up list of 3-5 faculty in case the first one does not work out)
  3. You can meet professors after class, during office hours, or send them an email.
    Read about how to e-mail a research professor and things to keep in mind when you e-mail instructors/professors.
  4. To prepare for your meeting, read articles that are based on your subject matter, be familiar with existing literature so that you can discuss with faculty your ideas and next steps to round out your research ideas.
  5. During meetings, you can discuss multiple topics with faculty including:
    Working on a project proposal, finding other research opportunities on campus, labs or paid opportunities in research they may know, writing literature reviews and finding research material, plans for attending graduate school and the application process, securing a letter of recommendation or proposal endorsement, and enrolling in independent study.
  6. After the interview, send a thank-you note, thanking the faculty member for their time.
  7. Enroll in Independent Study (199) under the Faculty member you will be doing research with to earn course credit.