Oregon State School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering

As an MIME student, if you're passionate about doing research or simply want to explore this important dimension of engineering, there's no need to wait for graduate school to get involved. Our faculty view research as an integral part of every engineering education and welcome undergraduate participants on their research teams.

There are many benefits of participating in research as an undergraduate, such as:

  • Engaging in hands-on learning
  • Enhancing your experience through mentoring relationships with faculty
  • Receiving effective career preparation 
  • Defining your interest in graduate education
  • Developing critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, self-confidence, and intellectual independence

School-Based Undergraduate Research Opportunities

On virtually every MIME research team, there is a place for undergraduate involvement and learning. In most cases, however, it will be up to you to seek out the opportunities that interest you, and to initiate the conversations to make them happen.

  • To do this, you'll first want to get up to speed on the kinds of research going on in the School of MIME, and who's doing it. You can do this by visiting our research area pages and talking to your course instructors, academic advisors, and other knowledgeable MIME faculty and staff.
  • After identifying some areas or projects of interest, schedule meetings with the associated faculty members during their office hours. You'll want to find out more about what they're doing, and they'll want to learn more about your interests and qualifications.
  • When you join a research team, practice the same professionalism expected of all other research team members. Attend research meetings as requested, fulfill your assigned responsibilities in a timely way, keep your supervisors informed of your progress, and learn everything you can from the experience.

See this recent presentation deck by Dr. Harriet Nembard, MIME school head, for more about undergraduate research opportunities.

MIME Strategic Excellence Initiatives: Research Experience for Undergraduates

Donations through the OSU Foundation to the MIME Excellence Fund provide approx. $100K/year to support our strategic initiatives through a Call for Proposals (CFP) process. This announcement supports awards of up to $5,000 provided to support eight-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) opportunities in W or Sp 2019 giving up to $1,500 to the student and $500 honorarium for the faculty advising the student or Su 2019 giving up to $3,000 to the student and $1,000 honorarium for the faculty advising the student.  An additional $1,000 may be awarded for the student’s travel (if needed for 8b).

MIME now has an open Call for Proposals (CFP) process for new projects to advance aspects of our strategic plan.

Please see the proposal guidelines and requirements for more information. 

Click here to submit a proposal. Proposals should be submitted as a single PDF file by November 9, 2018 and must include the following:

  1. Name of Faculty Project Advisor
  2. Student name, email, phone, mailing address, number of terms of previous undergraduate research experience, brief description of experience (100-word limit).
  3. Project description (to be completed by student; 300-word limit). Describe the research project to a general engineering audience, explaining the significance and approach of the proposed work; avoid the use of jargon and unexplained acronyms. Include a statement of the overall research questions and objective(s). Clearly state your role.
  4. Term in which the work is to be carried out (i.e., W, Sp, or Su 2019).
  5. Benefit to student (to be completed by student; 300-word limit). How will this research experience help you accomplish your educational and professional vision/goals/legacy?
  6. Copy of student’s transcript. Unofficial is acceptable.
  7. Student’s resume.
  8. Dissemination plan.
    1. Students receiving support are expected to participate in a College or University level research symposium.
    2. Students may also participate in a relevant professional conference to submit their research findings; the specific selected venue should be addressed. An additional travel reimbursement of up to $1,000 will be awarded for such work.
  9. Faculty letter of support.
  10. Faculty statement on how the project advances each of the COE strategic plan pillars (300-word limit).
  11. Student Signature with the following statement: I (the student) give Oregon State University permission to use my name, proposal, report, a summary and/or excerpts of it, for the COE/MIME website and/or other publications for the sole purpose of sharing information about research and scholarship for students.

Robotics REU

School of MIME Robotics faculty successfully hosted their first National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) – Robots in the Real World. Ten undergraduates from around the United State spent ten weeks working alongside graduate students in robotics on a variety of projects.

Opportunities Beyond MIME

There's no need to limit your search for undergraduate research opportunities to those within the School of MIME. Additional options to consider are research positions elsewhere on campus for which you may be qualified; the NSF REU programs are offered throughout the U.S.; and company-sponsored undergraduate research experiences.

For More Information...

For more information, posted opportunities, and strategies for getting involved with research both within and beyond MIME, be sure to visit the Oregon State Undergraduate Research Framework (OSURF).

The MIME Weekly E-Bulletin and the university's Career Development site also post information about on- and off-campus research opportunities.