Explore exciting opportunities at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement! CURE provides a range of competitive grants to fuel your undergraduate research pursuits. The awards are open to all undergraduate applicants, regardless of status of FAFSA eligibility.
Prepare to showcase your work with the CURE Conference Travel Award, designed to support students to present their research at conferences and professional gatherings. Additionally, CURE fellowships support summer research projects under the guidance and mentorship of a University of Oregon faculty mentor (instructor). CURE also offers a small grant fund to assist eligible students with research-related expenses. Discover how CURE can empower you to advance your research goals!
The following awards and opportunities are available:
- First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) Award provides first-year undergraduate students (including transfers students in their first year at the UO) the opportunity to engage in research and creative work
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship funds undergraduate students (who are not in their final year of study) to conduct full-time summer research for 8 weeks minimum under the supervision of a UO faculty member
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Humanities funds undergraduate students (who are not in their final year of study) and are focused on research in the Humanities to conduct full-time summer research for 8 weeks minimum under the supervision of a UO faculty member
- Conference Travel Awards supports undergraduate students who are attending and/or presenting at academic and professional conferences and symposia. Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.
- Undergraduate Research Small Grant offers funding for research related expenses, such as materials, supplies, minor equipment, and processing fees, as well as travel costs. Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.
- Faculty Research Mentor Award recognizes UO faculty members annually for their exceptional mentoring of undergraduate research, creative work, and experiential learning
First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) Award
CURE launched FYRE in 2020 to provide first-year undergraduate students (including transfers students in their first year at the UO) the developmental opportunity to explore and engage in research and creative work. This fellowship annually funds students who are in their first year at UO. This year, recipients will receive $5000 and their research faculty mentor will receive $1000. FYRE recipients are expected to perform full-time summer research for 8 weeks minimum under the mentorship of a UO faculty member. CURE invites students from all schools, colleges, majors, and minors to apply for FYRE, including the humanities, arts, social sciences, and sciences. The application due date is March 12, 2026 (no later than 5:00 pm)
The applicant is asked to have a faculty mentor identified and a research proposal at the time of application. CURE invites students seeking to connect with a prospective faculty mentor to meet with our team (visit open hours or by appointment) so that we can work with them to provide guidance, resources, and support.
FYRE Recipient Chase Crandall
What was a highlight of your experience conducting research?
"My favorite part of observing the San Diego Zoo bonobos was getting to know their different personalities and quirks."
What is the most valuable skill you gained through this experience?
"I learned how to conduct behavioral observation of non-human primates, something that is essential to primatology research and is not commonly learned in undergraduate studies."
How has your FYRE experience affected your academic and/or career trajectory?
"Upon earning the FYRE Award, I was able to fund my summer research at the San Diego Zoo studying the troop of bonobos housed there. Reading about primatological research did not prepare me for how fulfilling it was to spend my days at the zoo. I learned valuable skills for this field of study—methods for behavioral observations and statistical analysis—that set me apart from my peers. I am excited to build off this foundational experience that CURE has gifted me as I pursue a career in primatology."
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) funds students, of any class standing, to conduct full-time summer research for 8 weeks minimum under the supervision of a UO faculty member. SURF recipients receive a $5000 stipend and faculty mentors a $1,000 stipend. CURE invites students from all schools, colleges, majors, and minors to apply for SURF, including the humanities, arts, social sciences, and sciences. The application due date is March 12, 2026.
The applicant is asked to have a faculty mentor identified and a research proposal at the time of application. CURE invites students seeking to connect with a prospective faculty mentor to meet with our team (visit open hours or by appointment) so that we can work with them to provide guidance, resources, and support.
SURF Recipient Diego Solorio
What was a highlight of your experience conducting research?
"To work with many members of the Latin community here in Eugene was a dream. I feel we made a work which greatly encapsulate the experience of being brown in the Pacific Northwest."
What is the most valuable skill you gained through this experience?
"My confidence in myself as a filmmaker has risen to new heights. I feel I have made gains in my abilities as a leader and as an artist."
How has your FYRE experience affected your academic and/or career trajectory?
"The SURF award helped me focus on my goals as a filmmaker interested in exploring the Chicanx/Latin American experience through cinema. Not only did it provide a bit of funding for the arduous labor and expensive equipment and software that goes into movie-making, it gave me and the cast and crew more time and reason to see the project through. What resulted is one of the finest pieces of filmmaking which I have seen here in my time at UO. I am immensely proud of the commitment and passion of my many friends who dedicated so much to this project in spite of their very busy lives as fellow students and working citizens of the Lane County community."
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Humanities (SURF-H)
In 2024 the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE) and Oregon Humanities Center (OHC) launched a new partnership to support undergraduate research and creative work in the humanities and arts. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Humanities (SURF-Humanities) is open to students of any class standing. Fellows conduct full-time summer research for 8 weeks minimum under the supervision of a UO faculty member, and participate in CURE summer co-curricular workshops on academic and career development topics, as well as an end-of-summer Works-in-Progress presentation gathering. All SURF-H fellows present at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. This fellowship offers $5000 to each recipient and $1000 to their faculty research mentor. Five fellowships were awarded in the inaugural year. CURE and OHC performed specialized outreach and relationship-building with faculty in the humanities and arts to promote the fellowships and encouraged faculty to consider the opportunity for the fellowships to function as a research assistantship for students supporting faculty research as well as independent student projects. The application due date is March 12, 2026.
SURF-Humanities Recipient Caitlin Lloyd
"The CURE SURF Humanities fellowship has provided me the opportunity to explore my research interests and develop research skill within the art historical field. It gave me the resources and the confidence to connect with professionals in the field and confidently navigate museum and archival structures with the support of my faculty mentor and CURE team. The skills gained through this experience will translate into my future academic and career plans."
Conference Travel Awards
The purpose of this award is to support undergraduate students in their academic and professional development by attending and/or presenting at academic and professional conferences and symposia. Conference participation represents an integral element of the scholarly process, as well as graduate school and career exploration--from practicing how to communicate your work to networking with peers, faculty, professionals, and experts in your academic disciplines and career fields. The award is available to students in any of the University of Oregon’s eight undergraduate schools and colleges. CURE defines research and creative work expansively to encompass the social sciences, humanities, sciences, creative and performance arts, as well as the professional schools. Ten travel awards will be granted per year, with three awards designated for National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) presenters in the spring. Award funds may not be reserved pending conference acceptance to present. Applications are considered on first-come-first-serve basis, and may not be guaranteed. NOTE: Please plan to apply at least 6 weeks prior to your conference date. Applications are on a rolling basis. Please email urds@uoregon.edu with any questions.
Award Recipient Nadia Barnard
What is the most valuable skill you gained through this experience?
"Learning to network with experts in my field has been an invaluable experience and a skill that I will continue to build throughout my career."
How will this experience affect your academic and career trajectory?
"My time at the ECS Spring 2024 meeting allowed me to learn about other electrochemistry research, meet influential connections, and articulate my science to a higher degree. I was able to begin to make a name for myself by meeting professors and industry partners that I would eventually like to research with in their labs. Learning more about the important external applications of my work and how others are leading ideas into fruition was very inspirational and encouraging. I was excited to learn how much my research related to other's and gain insight into my future research steps for my chemistry capstone project."
Undergraduate Research Small Grant
The Undergraduate Research Small Grant program, through CURE, offers funding for research related expenses, such as materials, supplies, minor equipment, and processing fees, as well as travel costs to research sites, such as field locations or archives and special collections. The funding is offered to undergraduate students engaging in research and creative work in any field of study. Funding for travel to academic conferences is offered through the CURE Conference Travel Award, and not through this form. Applications on a rolling basis. Please email urds@uoregon.edu with any questions.
CURE Small Grant Recipient Ashton Stith
What is a highlight of your experience conducting research?
"The highlight of my thesis was presenting a performance of choral music written by women in UO’s Beall Hall. I had spent nearly a year researching and selecting music, hiring instrumentalists, and recruiting and rehearsing a volunteer choir. Only about 9% of classical music that gets performed is by women, and I was so proud to present a concert of only women composers. There were also two songs on this program that had no freely available videos online, meaning that my thesis video (uploaded to my personal YouTube channel) contains the only available recordings of these songs. I hope the work I put into this project enables and inspires other musical directors to program more music written by women."
What is the most valuable skill you gained through this experience?
"Some of the most valuable skills I gained in this experience were humility when working with a choir of skilled musicians, as well as the ability to accept when things do not go according to plan. I also gained such empathy for the women whose music I programmed, and this project has inspired me to continue to be a voice for women in the field of classical music."
How will this experience impact your academic and career trajectory?
"Preparing and presenting this thesis has had a huge impact on my personal development as well as who I am as an educator. I learned many skills that will be expected of me as a teacher, from researching, choosing, and ordering repertoire to hiring instrumentalists, planning rehearsals, designing posters and programs, and working with production teams to stage a performance. I have grown more resilient as a musician, and learned to problem solve and change my approach when things don’t work the way I intended."
Faculty Research Mentor Award
The Faculty Research Mentor Award recognizes UO faculty members annually for their exceptional mentoring of undergraduate research, creative work, and experiential learning. In alignment with UO Mentorship Reimagined principles, the award recognizes faculty who help undergraduate students build their mentorship network, while providing responsive, reciprocal and adaptive mentorship themselves. The Faculty Research Mentor Award is open to all full-time and part-time research and instructional faculty employed by the University of Oregon, which includes tenure related and career faculty, emerit faculty, library faculty, and officers of research, including research assistants, research associates, and postdoctoral scholars.
Nominators are asked to provide examples of responsive, reciprocal and adaptive mentorship, as well as support for mentorship network development. Nominations are solicited widely from current students, alumni, faculty, and staff. The recipients are recognized as part of the Undergraduate Research Symposium in late May. The awards include a $2500 prize, framed certificate, and profiles published in the Symposium Program Book and on the Undergraduate Research and Distinguished Scholarships website. This year's nomination deadline is May 2, 2025.