The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Undergraduate Research Program (URP) is an academic year-long program that encourages US citizens, diverse, and gender candidates to participate in research. The program combines a structured undergraduate research experience with industry mentorship.  In addition, the program design increases retention of students interested in majors relevant to the semiconductor industry and better prepares these target groups for a full-time opportunity upon graduation or progressing to graduate school programs.  It should allow opportunities for URP sponsors to network and/or mentor URP students including an annual recruiting event hosted by SRC to match member company job opportunities with URP students. 

SRC URP is under the Illinois Scholars Undergraduate Research (ISUR) Program umbrella. SRC URP scholars will register for ENG 199 (UGR or ISR) in the fall and participate in the ISUR program activities. They are “named” scholars according to their sponsors (IBM, Intel, or Texas Instruments).

Benefits

Promotes research methodologies
Able to ramp up more quickly in workplace environment
Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills
Stand out when applying to graduate school or jobs in industry
Better prepared and more competitive for industry
Reinforces teamwork and collaboration
Develop communication, presentation, and research writing skills
Annual recruiting event to explore job opportunities with industry program participants 

Eligibility

Must be a U.S. citizen
Must be an undergraduate student in one of the following areas of study: Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Bioengineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Neuroscience, Material Science, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Systems Engineering, NPRE
Must be enrolled full-time in fall and spring semesters (students graduating in December 2024 are ineligible to apply)
Minimum GPA of 3.0
No previous research experience needed

URP Scholars will be expected to:

Secure a relevant research project to participate on at their university (scholars could potentially work on the previous year project however the project will need SRC prior approval)
SRC will require an initial set of information on each student and an update of student project information mid-year (January) and year-end report (June)
Interact with URP sponsors
Scholars to attend (funded by SRC) annual recruiting event for URP sponsors

Students will be selected by URP Sponsor companies to participate as a URP Sponsor named scholar for the 2024-2025 academic year. Each scholar will receive a $2500 stipend to work a minimum of 5 hours a week in the lab on an approved project* for the academic year as part of the URP program. URP scholars will be invited to a recruiting event to network with the opportunity to interview for internships or permanent hire positions with the URP Sponsor companies. URP will pay for scholars travel to the recruiting event.  URP scholars should expect hands on industry mentorship via conference calls, campus visits and/or online workshops etc.

*Projects must be approved by the SRC Program Manager and must take place in fall and spring semesters.

Application for 2024-2025 academic year
Please sign up for an SRC account to submit an application when you click on the application form button below.

Application Deadline: April 17, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST

For inquiries, please email isurprogram@illinois.edu