Reforming the research: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships should be reformed

As a top research university, UNC should offer a top-notch summer undergraduate research program. And while the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship has a reputation of being educational, it falls short in comparison to other universities’ programs.

While the SURF program has experienced many success stories, it seems that there’s a lot of opportunity for students to get confused during the process.

One student says he’s barely heard from his mentor about his research project — and he’s supposed to leave the country in a few weeks to start his research.

Another student says she receives very little instruction in the lab each day and doesn’t feel secure in her project.

This comes from very little structured direction. Some SURF students are largely left on their own with their project. And some may not know exactly what they’re doing.

UNC should consider organizing the SURF program in a similar way to the Research Experiences for Undergraduates — or REU — programs, like the one for animal behavior at Indiana University.

The SURF program admirably allows students enrolled at the University to find their own mentor, create and conduct their own research project. Students can attend training at the Writing Center at the end of January to learn how to write a research proposal, work on developing their own plan and then submit an application in mid-February.

If selected, they receive a $3,000 stipend to conduct their research during the summer. SURF projects are largely science-related, but fellowships are also offered to students in humanities, arts or social science departments.

It should be noted that UNC also has a REU program called the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, but it’s only offered for biological sciences.

In contrast, the REU program at Indiana University is very structured. Each student applies to work under a particular mentor, who gives them a specific project to work on. Upon arrival this year, students received an itinerary, which laid out a schedule of events to attend.

While REU programs like the ones at Duke University and Indiana University do limit creativity — students are typically given projects to work on rather than creating their own — they do receive more instruction, which may help them learn more about the research process.

What’s more, since the mentors create the project and carefully oversee the students who work with them, it seems there’s a better chance the projects will yield useful results.

REU programs are funded by the National Science Foundation, while SURF is funded through the University, outside contributors and donors. While the process to become a federally-funded REU program might be too involved, SURF could at least look into structuring itself to resemble such a program.

SURF should maintain some of its key components — such as offering a program specifically to UNC students and allowing students to have some say in their projects. But if it truly hopes to produce consistent results, it needs more structure.