About
UROC fast facts
- Launched in January 2009.
- Placed students in 466 research placements across 18 majors, 455 of them paid undergraduate research positions.
- Worked with over 350 students in research seminars, workshops, panels, and one-on-one sessions.
- Eighteen (18) UROC’ers have been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
- Fifty-four (54) UROC’ers are in Master’s programs and 26 in Ph.D. programs.
- UROC placed 60 students in summer 2014 research experiences.
The UROC experience
California State University Monterey Bay’s (CSU Monterey Bay) Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC) is a cross-campus center that engages students in undergraduate research in multiple disciplines. These experiences help students make the link between their classroom and the wider world, contextualizing their academic work, and developing critical skill sets for success in graduate school and professional life.
UROC works to instill a sense of self-efficacy, scholarship, and achievement in our students through a suite of services and activities that support and reinforce their undergraduate research experience. The students’ research experiences are grounded in rigorous academic expectations. Accordingly, UROC provides educational advising and assistance through one-on-one sessions, group workshops, relevant courses, and scholar community building activities.
To further prepare them for life beyond their undergraduate education, students engage in professional experiences, such as the presentation of their research at professional conferences and the publication of their work in peer-reviewed journals. Students who wish to proceed with their education are also provided with graduate school preparation activities. All of these services and activities are coupled with intensive training and the close supervision of faculty mentors and program staff. In all, UROC provides our students with an engaged and scholarly undergraduate experience by integrating mentorship, learning, and research.
Beyond the individual student experience, UROC fosters an environment that recognizes the value of faculty participation in undergraduate research. UROC promotes, supports, and awards faculty participation in undergraduate research.
UROC is home to CSU Monterey Bay’s strong and growing undergraduate research-related programs, such as the McNair Scholars Program, the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program (LSAMP), and the Department of Education’s College Cost Reduction and Access Act grant program.
The center is housed in the new Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library and funded through federal grants, private contributions, and corporate donations.