Finding research opportunities on campus
Determine your interests. Interested in environmental law? Sustainable agriculture? Think about your career goals and learn about research in those areas. Remember, a lot of research incorporates skills and knowledge from a variety of fields so anticipate your research to be interdisciplinary.
Explore research projects that UMD faculty are working on. Browse faculty and departmental webpages and read about their current projects. Identify a handful of faculty members whose research interests you; speak to them about their work. You can also consider talking to your graduate teaching assistants.
Chat with other students. There are many students on campus who are doing (or have done) research, so talk to them to learn about their experiences and how they found them.
The Maryland Student Researchers Program, through the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research, provides an opportunity for current students with at least 15 credits completed to connect with faculty mentors who are seeking student assistants. The Program manages a database (searchable by keyword) that links your interests to faculty members' webpages. You can join Maryland Student Researchers at any time; all you need to be is motivated, curious, and responsible!
Departmental Honors-in-ENSP gives ENSP students an opportunity to conduct their own (original) research, collect and analyze data, and discuss and write about it with like-minded others. The research project will be conducted under the supervision of a faculty mentor, often within the student's area of concentration, and will result in an Honors thesis.
NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs). REUs support active research participation by students in areas of research funded by the National science Foundation. Plan as early as sophomore year to gain the prior research experiences expected.
