UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN STATISTICS

We are happy to announce Undergraduate Research Experience in Statistics (URES) to provide undergraduate Statistics students an opportunity to participate in a research experience with faculty.

Details

  • Students will apply for specific URES topics.  
  • Student researchers will enroll in STAT 391: Honors Individual Study for credit and a letter grade. This is an honors experience additional to the Statistics curriculum and the credit hours earned from the URES will not count towards major requirements for the degree.
  • To receive credit for this program, student researchers will prepare a final project presentation to showcase at the Spring URES Symposium on Wednesday, December 6.  Additionally, students are encouraged to submit their projects for presentation at the yearly campus-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium in April.

Eligibility

  • Open to all Statistics and Stat&CS majors.
  • Faculty will select students based on an application, topics of interest, grades, and progress toward completing the Statistics degree.

Application

  • All interested students must fill out an application for consideration. Applications for the Fall 2023 semester are due by 5 pm on Monday, August 14, 2023 at 5 p.m.

Any questions? Please contact Prof. Steve Culpepper (sculpepp@illinois.edu).

Apply Here

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Sandia National Laboratories

Additionally, starting Spring 2023 we are introducing a new initiative in which URES is teaming up with Sandia National Laboratories to work on two special projects. To qualify for a Sandia project, students must be:

  • Junior/Senior majoring in Statistics or Statistics/CS. Exceptional sophomores will be considered.
  • Completed Math Stat sequence (STAT 400,410), and at least one methods class (STAT 425)
  • Strong coding skills in R or python
  • A United States citizen

To read the project descriptions and to apply, please visit this link:

Application Link: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/1526348880

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FAQ

  • I’m a new student at the University of Illinois. Can I participate in URES as an incoming student or is it advisable to participate next semester onwards?

New freshman students have many other responsibilities in their first semester to lay a foundation for a successful career here. We encourage those students to apply in a later semester. Transfer students have already had some experience at the collegiate level and are welcome to apply to URES in their first semester.

  • What are my chances of getting an invitation to participate in URES?

The number of announced positions for student researchers varies per semester. It’s hard to say what one individual’s chances are of getting in because it depends on the pool of all applicants and the number of positions. My advice is to select your schedule for the coming semester as if you will not participate in URES, but have a backup plan if you do get in and need to shuffle some classes because of the added responsibility. Regardless, we encourage all students to apply for this opportunity.

  • If I don’t hear from a faculty member by the end of this semester, does that mean that I won’t have undergraduate research for next semester?

Not necessarily. The opportunities on the URES application are only the ones we know about right now. As we’ve seen in past semesters, more faculty usually step forward at the beginning or even midway through a semester. The applicant pool will continue to be circulated and available to faculty leading up to and throughout the semester.