The Summer Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) provide a $4,000 stipend to conduct independent research over the summer. SURA recipients also enroll in a 12-week summer SURA course to learn how to communicate their research findings to a general audience.
Titles of recent SURA topics range from "Queer Cinema and the Spectator/Voyeur Narrative: Performance and Performativity" to "Migrant Health and Human Rights".
Who Should Apply?
Any Dietrich School and College of General Studies (CGS) undergraduate who:
- Can find a faculty mentor within the appropriate discipline to support and guide their research
- Wants to engage with a scholarly community, involving discussions and collaborations with peers and faculty
- Is motivated to conduct independent, self-directed research, showing initiative and curiosity beyond classroom assignments
Application Materials
- SURA Cover Page: Fill out the PDF form
- Research Proposal: Describe your project in 3-4 pages (excluding citations) typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font with 1-inch margins.
- Appendices and addenda are not allowed
- Community Statement: Address the prompt in 1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12-point font, and 1-inch margins
- Prompt: As a Summer Undergraduate Research Award recipient, you will participate in a community of scholars. What excites you about sharing your perspective with this community? How do you think conversations with your fellow participants will enrich your development as a thinker and an individual?
- Letter of Support: Supplied by a faculty sponsor who accepts the responsibility to serve as a mentor throughout the award
- Faculty sponsor should email their letter of support directly to our@pitt.edu by the posted deadline
- Confirmation: The application will ask you (the applicant) to confirm that you will not simultaneously hold other spring research awards (e.g., OUR awards, Frederick Honors College fellowships).
- For Research with Human Subjects: All students whose research will involve human subjects, or the analysis of data and/or samples from humans, must consult with the University of Pittsburgh Human Research Protection Office (HRPO).
- You must consult with the HRPO before conducting any research activities to determine if an IRB submission is needed and what type of IRB review is required. Please see the Student Research guidance on the HRPO website.
- Contact askirb@pitt.edu with questions and for a consultation about your project
While students may undertake research that involves in-person activity, students are also highly encouraged to propose research that may be carried out virtually. SURA students are NOT required to be located in Pittsburgh while conducting their summer research, and all SURA course meetings will allow for remote participation.
Applications will reopen in Spring 2026.