{"id":342,"date":"2025-11-04T14:39:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T19:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/?page_id=342"},"modified":"2025-11-18T16:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T21:34:11","slug":"urop","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/generosity\/urop\/","title":{"rendered":"Next-Gen Researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program offers hands-on research experience like studying how sugar kelp adapts to changing marine environments.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks to our donors, BU is training the next wave of scientists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sierra Koerber-Marx<\/strong> (CAS\u201926) grew up along the Maine coast, where her father and uncle worked on lobster boats. This year, a $3,000 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program<\/a> (UROP) grant\u2014matched by Kilachand Honors College\u2014allowed her to spend the summer studying how sugar kelp adapts to changing marine environments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad that I\u2019ll never see the same ecosystems that my dad did or my great-grandpa did,\u201d says Koerber-Marx, who plans to become a marine biologist. \u201cBut it also is motivating to make sure that I\u2019m working to conserve that area for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

UROP supports BU undergraduates across the University in faculty-mentored research projects\u2014in any academic area\u2014that produce real results. Last year, UROP funded 578 projects with $1.5 million in student stipends, and also covered lab supplies, travel, and other needs. The funded projects represent about two-thirds of UROP applicants. That rate\u2014and impact\u2014could be even higher with more direct support.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\t\n\t\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t$<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1.5<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tM<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\tDistributed through stipends for student research\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\t\n<\/div>\n\n

In the 2024\u201325 academic year, UROP students studied the safe applications of robots made from flexible materials and pored over 54,000 images of white dwarf stars to determine their composition. One student surveyed shellfish remains from a now-uninhabited Alaskan island to determine how people lived there hundreds of years ago.<\/p>\n

The kelp study may provide insights into how to restore populations that are down substantially in some areas, says Koerber-Marx: \u201cWe actually collected data on our first dive, which is rare.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above: The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program offers hands-on research experience like studying how sugar kelp adapts to changing marine environments. Thanks to our donors, BU is training the next wave of scientists Sierra Koerber-Marx (CAS\u201926) grew up along the Maine coast, where her father and uncle worked on lobster boats. This year, a $3,000 Undergraduate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1859,"featured_media":0,"parent":76,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions\/604"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ar.bu.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}