Research opportunities for engineering undergraduates (ROEU)

The College of Engineering offers competitive Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) awards to eligible students. The College’s Research Advisory Committee will evaluate the applications and make award recommendations to the dean. Up to 20 awards ($1,000 per award) will be made for the academic year 2024 - 2025.

Application

Undergraduate students may submit one application per academic year in the ROEU program. Faculty may supervise up to two (2) Engineering ROEU students per academic year. Renewal proposal requests from 2023-24 ROEU awardees must be accompanied by a progress or final report on project accomplishments to date, including a list of public presentations at College, University and other professional research events. 

Students will need their faculty advisor 's signature via the faculty advisor acknowledgement form prior to beginning the application as it will need to be uploaded.

Deadline

Completed applications should be submitted by Sunday, November 17, 2024, at 11:59 pm. Late and incomplete applications will not be considered unless approved by Associate Dean, Leela Arava. 

Application evaluation and scoring

Applications will be evaluated and scored by the College of Engineering’s Research Advisory Committee. They will be scored according to the following rubric. Please submit the requirements as individual PDFs on the form. 

  • Personal statement - 30%
  • Research problem statement - 10%
  • Project description - 20%
  • Description of student's responsibilities - 20%
  • Faculty sponsor's responsibilities and mentoring plan - 10%
  • Project timeline and project management timeline - 5%
  • Listing of matching funds - 5%

Student eligibility requirements

  • All applicants must be enrolled and in good academic standing (GPA >3.0), in a College of Engineering major for the Fall 2024 / Winter 2025 semesters as an undergraduate.
  • Undergraduate students must be enrolled full-time (> 12 credit hours/semester) in Fall 2024 and in Winter 2025 to receive the award funding for each semester.
  • In the event a student graduates with their BS in an engineering discipline in December 2024 of the ROEU program, the student may receive funding only for the semester they are an undergraduate. (Fall 2024)
  • Graduate students and post-undergraduate students are not eligible for the ROEU program.

Student/faculty matching

Students are encouraged to contact faculty members with ROEU projects or locate other research projects within their disciplines or related areas of interest.

Award and co-sponsorship

Eligible students will receive the first half of the award ($500.00) their student accounts in the Fall Semester after the entry deadline has passed, and the remaining amount will be awarded in the winter semester in March, contingent upon awardees’ satisfactory performance in the lab as determined by the faculty mentor. The department or faculty mentor may co-sponsor the award with additional funding, but the maximum College funding will be up to $1,000 per awardee per academic year. Students who graduate in December 2024 shall only receive funding for the Fall semester (the semester they are an undergraduate). Students who graduate in December 2024 are not eligible to receive the $500.00 Winter 2025 funding. 

Report and presentation

ROEU awardees must submit a two-five (2-5) page (max) report on or before 5:00 p.m., Friday, April 25, 2025, to their faculty mentor outlining the project and progress made throughout the academic year. Additional materials, such as appendices, PowerPoint presentations, etc. are welcome, but the submission should all be sent as a single PDF. For students who graduate in December 2024, a 2 – 5 page final progress report must be submitted to your faculty advisor by not later than December 31, 2024.