The Inter-Disciplinary Summer
Undergraduate Research Experience (ID-SURE) provides funding for UCI undergraduates from
all disciplines who are conducting interdisciplinary summer research projects or creative
activities related to health promotion and disease prevention under the guidance of UCI
faculty members. The program offers students the opportunity to become immersed in an
interdisciplinary research topic for a full-time eight-week period, or the equivalent of
320 hours.
Students can apply for funding by submitting a proposal during the
ID-SURE Call for Proposals, announced during
Winter Quarter of each academic year. ID-SURE is open to all non-graduating
(must be a returning student) UCI undergraduates who are in good
academic standing. Proposals should be developed and submitted by
the student applicant with guidance from the faculty mentor(s).
Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis, based on recommendations
by the ID-SURE Selection Committee. Fellows are awarded a maximum
$2,400 stipend in support of their time and efforts conducting an
interdisciplinary summer research project or creative activity related
to the topic of health promotion and disease prevention. Requests
can be for less than $2,400 if other funding sources are contributing
to the student’s summer stipend. These funds are NOT intended
to support such expenditures as the purchase of research-related
materials and supplies. Students receiving adequate funding from
departmental or other sources can submit an application for an ID-SURE
Honorary Fellowship.
Selected Fellows are notified by the end of winter quarter and are
expected to enroll in a 4-unit course focused on promoting interdisciplinary
research and collaborative activities during spring quarter. During
the summer, ID-SURE Fellows are expected to: 1) participate in eight
weekly journal club meetings to discuss interdisciplinary research
articles related to health promotion and disease prevention, and
2) make a brief presentation and submit a final written report on
the project activities and findings at the conclusion of the program.
ID-SURE fellows can enroll in summer courses, upon receiving approval
from their faculty mentors, as long as they meet the 320-hour minimum
requirement of the fellowship. During the following academic year,
ID-SURE Fellows are encouraged to continue with their faculty-mentored
research and creative activities on a related topic and present
at the UCI Undergraduate Research Symposium held in May.
The broad aim of the ID-SURE program is to infuse a sense of inter- and
transdisciplinary thinking into all of the trainees’ research
activities. Through weekly assignments, participants are expected
to consider and discuss linkages between their specific work and
the greater topic of health promotion and disease prevention. For
example, a Fellow participating in research related to a tobacco
cessation medication clinical trial might be asked to speculate
about a policy change that is designed to reduce lung cancer incidence
among smokers, such as increasing the smoking age to 21. In addition,
Fellows are expected to learn the specific skills and methods of
their host research unit. For example, a trainee working in a brain-imaging
center will be expected to demonstrate project-specific knowledge,
skills and attitudes relevant to neural-scanning and other data
gathering, data management, entry and analysis techniques.
ID-SURE is sponsored under the National Institutes of Health Roadmap Initiative, funded by the National Institute on Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK), and administered jointly by the UCI Health Promotion
Center (HPC) in the School of Social Ecology and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Program (UROP) in the Division of
Undergraduate Education.
Research Conduct
Students supported by the ID-SURE must adhere to UCI's
research conduct rules dealing with health and environmental issues, research ethics,
use of humans as experimental subjects, care of laboratory animals, as well as patents and
copyrights.
Additional research conduct guidelines and appropriate forms are available at the
following Web site: www.research.uci.edu/.
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