The USS program enables Miami undergraduates to conduct research or other creative scholarly activities in close collaboration with a faculty mentor during the summer term. With its primary goals on student-centered learning through mentored research, the program aligns with Miami's focus on offering “active, engaged educational experiences for our undergraduates.

Read the USS Guidelines carefully. Starting in early fall semester, interested students are responsible for seeking a faculty member to mentor the summer research project. Or a faculty member can suggest a project to a student. The student and faculty member may discuss the meaning of implementation of scholarly activity, set project goals, collaborate to plan/design the independent research project, craft a mentoring agreement to carry out the project, as well as agreeing on the evaluation criteria that factor into the grade.  

Request the USS application form via E-mail undergradresearch@MiamiOH.edu 

Document format: 1" margins, single-spaced, at least 10 pt font. The student and faculty mentor will co-create the USS application to answer these questions.

• On page 1: Enter student and mentor information as well as the research project title.
• On page 2: Explain the project purpose, the goals and the expected outcomes of the project and describe the educational benefit to the student of completing the research project.
• On page 3: Plans for USS 2020 Mentoring/Supervision by Faculty and Student Responsibilities.
  This section is a public agreement between the student and the mentor. 1) Describe the faculty member’s plan for mentoring the student's research project, the expected manner, form and frequency of interactions between the student and faculty member; 2) Describe the student’s plan to carry out the research project under the faculty mentor’s guidance, to meet the project milestones, manage any product(s) as the result of the research, etc.; 3) New for Summer 2020!  Share your plans/ideas about dissemination of the project outcomes to non-technical/public audiences. In 3-4 sentences provide some suggestions about public forums that can benefit from engagement with your research. Also indicate some formats that would be most appropriate for these forums/audiences. Note: All USS awardees will participate in two workshops aimed at engaging public/non-technical audiences.

Note: Departments and Programs will collect and review all USS applications for eligibility and then will use an online form to submit the applications to the Office of Research for Undergraduates. Department staff will email undergradresearch@MiamiOH.edu for information on the submission process for departments/programs. 

The USS program is open to Miami students completing their sophomore or junior years (having earned at least 60 credit hours) who agree to abide by the terms of the program. Students must verify plans to spend at least one semester as a Miami undergraduate after program participation. Each student receives a: $2,600 fellowship award, $400 project expense, and tuition-only waiver for required 6 credit hours of independent study credit for conducting the research project. Faculty mentors must be full-time tenured or tenure-eligible. Faculty mentors will receive $600 for professional or project expenses.

The program encourages students to develop their capacity to construct knowledge by reflecting on their experience and by crafting their ability to articulate the meaning of their discoveries. USS program heightens the intellectual level of the Miami learning environment by enabling our undergraduates to conceive and carry out a summer independent research project or other creative activity under the supervision of an individual Miami faculty mentor.

Students will submit a printed USS application to the department chair or program director of your USS faculty mentor. Both the student and the mentor should sign the application before submitting. Departments and Programs will notify students about the status of your application.