Jump to important dates and proposal submission.
Purpose of the award
The award is designed to provide research and creative activity experiences to students who are first-generation and/or have been historically underrepresented in undergraduate research. In doing so, the program seeks to enhance the academic experience, educational outcomes, and future educational pursuits of students of all identities.
Program background
According to the National Survey of Student Engagement (2017) there are gaps in undergraduate research participation for students of diverse racial and socioeconomic identities.
- Nationwide, students who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, LatinX, and Asian Pacific Islander report participating in research with faculty at lower rates compared to other students.
- Only 18% of first-generation students reported being involved in research with a faculty member.
- Only 4.5% of all first-year students report intentions to get involved with undergraduate research during their first year.
The program seeks to address these inequities by encouraging participation in undergraduate research for students holding these diverse identities.
More importantly, undergraduate research has been identified as a High Impact Practice for students, which can have an impact on student success.
A pipeline of students engaged with research during their first year prepares them for future opportunities including Undergraduate Research awards, McNair Scholars and graduate school.
Lastly, developing strong academic and social connections during the first years of college is critical for long-term student success, which is why the program focuses on first- and second-year students.
Research projects
Students will work on projects designed by the University of Nevada, Reno faculty mentors.
Projects should be scoped to be appropriate for freshmen and sophomores with limited prior research experience. Projects are welcome in all fields – Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and STEM – with particular emphasis on the need to provide more STEM research opportunities to those typically underrepresented within these fields. Listing of suggested minimum skills or areas of academic interest is advisable to attract suitable candidates.
Successful candidates will work for a total of 150 hours in a semester on the project and produce a poster or other suitable presentation to be given at the Wolf Pack Discoveries symposium.
Solicitation and application
The projects will be advertised by Undergraduate Research to students, who will then complete an application. All applicants for a specific project will be reviewed by the mentors and the candidates will be ranked. Final selection of candidates will be made by Undergraduate Research in consultation with the mentors.
Awards
An award of $2,250, provided by the University, will go to the student in the form of salary as a student worker. Students will work approximately 10 hours per week over a 15-week semester. Students will be paid biweekly for hours worked during the award cycle.
Mentor expectations
- Attend the program orientation.
- Complete a “plan for research form” with your student.
- Attend the Wolf Pack Discoveries symposium to support your student.
Timeline
For projects being conducted from August 1 - December 31:
- Proposals must be submitted by faculty mentors by mid-January (this date corresponds to the date the application is available to students)
- Students will apply in April
- After application period, mentors will have time to review student applications, set up interviews (optional), and decide on their top picks
- Student-mentor matches will then be determined, and decisions will be disseminated to students and agencies in May
For projects being conducted from January 1 - May 31:
- Proposals must be submitted by faculty mentors by end of August (this date corresponds to the date the application is available to students)
- Students will apply in November
- After application period, mentors will have time to review student applications, set up interviews (optional), and decide on their top picks
- Student-mentor matches will then be determined, and decisions will be disseminated to students and agencies in December
Participating mentors & projects for fall 2025
Applications due April 20, 2025. Subscribe to our email list for announcements when the next application cycle is open!
Due to budget constraints, not all projects proposed for funding will necessarily be funded. Funding decisions will be based on available funds, number of applicants and number of projects funded per mentor.
PREP projects for fall 2025
- Eric Crosbie: Investigating health harming industries and analyzing corporate harm to public health
- Laura Crosswell: Exploring gender disparities, communication strategies, or vaccination messaging
- John C. Cushman: Enhancing water efficiency and bioenergy in arid plants
- Melody Huslage: Power-based violence in Hispanic/Latine communities in Nevada
- James M. Leonhardt: Exploring brand personality with large language models
- Ben Ma: Control biofilms in water infrastructures using innovative germicidal technologies
- Jenny Ouyang: Effects of artificial light at night on genome to phenome
- Marin A. Pilloud: Forensic anthropology: age estimation and deciduous teeth
- Richard Plotkin and Erika Gwin: X-ray flickering of a galactic black hole
- Elizabeth Pringle: Ecology of plant-animal interactions
- Claudia Rückert: Defining the cellular functions of the antiviral mosquito protein Bravo
- Philipp Ruprecht: Explosive volcanic activity in Southern Chile: comparing eruptions through mineral chemistry
- Richard Scott: Global variation in third molar agenesis
- Yftah Tal-Gan: Developing peptide-based tools to study streptococcal quorum sensing
- Christopher von Nagy: Shared history program: public history, museum, or oral history
- Mariann Weierich: Neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms of stress and stress-related disorders
- Benjamin Young: Exploring olfactory philosophy or research and publishing
- Jun Zhang: Lightweight and powerful wearable assistive robotics
Project submission
The list of PREP projects is updated as mentor projects become available. Once the application is available to students, no new projects will be added for that semester's solicitation. Please contact Undergraduate Research to get involved as a PREP mentor.
Questions
Please email undergradresearch@unr.edu with questions.