Research opportunities are offered to all students regardless of major or class-standing and are available both on and off campus, independently, within a class setting or in conjunction with a faculty member.
As a USD student, you will have tremendous opportunities to strengthen your education in collaboration with accessible faculty mentors on a range of research, scholarship and creative projects, many of them funded by USD and external research grants.
Our students are invited to display the results of their research at USD's Undergraduate Research Conference, Creative Collaborations. Students also present their research at various local, national and international conferences, and some students' projects are published in scholarly journals.
You will have many opportunities and resources to pursue your research and scholarly interests, including:
Capstone Design Projects
School of Engineering students solve real engineering and technical problems. The program typically involves designing, construction, simulation, testing and evaluation. while applying knowledge in eer in a real-world scenario.
PURE
Pre-Undergraduate Research Experience offers summer research opportunities to incoming students who will begin classes at USD in the fall and who may be the first in their families to pursue a college education.
BURST
The BURST (Beginning Undergraduate Research Summer Training) program provides opportunities for USD undergraduates with minimal prior research experience to participate in research or creative works training under the guidance of a USD faculty mentor.
STAR
The STAR (Summer Training in Advanced Research) program provides opportunities for USD undergraduates who have had prior research experience to participate in advanced research or creative works training under the guidance of a faculty mentor.
Honors Program
The Honors Program offers a four-year interdisciplinary curriculum integrated with a student's major. Students conduct original research projects in the form of a senior independent study project.
CSL
Community Service-Learning offers a wide range of service-learning classes that incorporate community partnerships into the class curriculum and can include both research and internship opportunities.
McNair
McNair Scholars are partnered with faculty mentors in their discipline, formulate a research plan and receive stipends to support their research projects.
Students in the Field
All students can participate in undergraduate research. No matter the major or year, there are on-campus or off-campus opportunities available. USD's Office of Undergraduate Research guides students in subjects such as research ethics and integrity, applying for extramural scholarships, fellowships and awards, professional development and funding for travel to present research findings.
Students in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering gain hands-on experience solving real engineering and technical problems. Students work in teams, mentored by a faculty member or on an open-ended design project to understand and execute the full cycle of the design process. The program typically involves designing, construction, simulation, testing and evaluation, allowing students to apply knowledge learned throughout their undergraduate career in a real-world scenario.
From her first semester at USD, Ava Bellizzi ’20 (BS/BA) was active in undergraduate research, first focusing on engineering education under the mentorship of Professor Susan Lord, and then concentrating on water filtration under Professor Frank Jacobitz. “I am very grateful to have had such a wonderful experience as a student in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering,” said Bellizzi, a mechanical engineering graduate who graduated with an impressive 3.99 GPA and was named engineering valedictorian
There were 64 virtual project presentations at the 2020 USD Summer Research Colloquium. The research aim of McNair Scholar Gabrielle Gomez ’22 was “Social Distancing and Negative Attention Bias,” a study that analyzed the potential environmental and cognitive impact on students in the San Diego area due to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was most interested in how students were responding to social distancing. Were they isolating themselves further or were they actively socializing through remote means? How does that correlate with attentional bias and overall mental health?”
Research Journeys
Check out some stories from undergraduate students who followed their passion to find new horizons to explore while on their collegiate journey.