UROP advertisements or listings are an important outreach tool for faculty/labs to connect with prospective undergraduate researchers. While it is not a requirement that you post a UROP listing, we strongly encourage it as part of your recruitment of UROP students. Listing your project is especially important for first-year students and others just starting out in research who are particularly interested in understanding the breadth of opportunities offered.
Writing & Posting a UROP Listing
Be concise and specific about the type of student(s) you are looking for (duties, skills, passions, etc) and project details. You may also include what the student(s) may gain from the project (e.g. “student will gain skills in programming, computational methods, and handling large datasets.”).
Inclusive Practices when writing a UROP post:
Be intentional and specific with skills requirements. Use a growth mindset (development of skills via the research experience), and think about what skills are actually needed to begin and make progress on the project versus the skills the student can develop during the experience. Treat students as motivated and excited to learn, but not necessarily researchers who already know everything to complete the project.
There are three main post types
- Project-specific: Descriptive information relevant to the project including links and other details as much as possible.
- Student profile-specific: Projects seeking a student who fits an umbrella set of skills that can be useful in a laboratory. These skills could be from previous experiences or from certain classes. Can also be useful for advertising first-year friendly opportunities for that type of mentoring experience.
- Exploratory: Projects that involve exploration of a new process, tool, and/or literature that you do not have the bandwidth to explore but that you need to be explored for the greater research agenda.
Experiential Learning Exchange (ELx) UROP Listings
To post your UROP opportunity, please visit the ELx administrative portal: https://elx-admin-mit-edu.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au
Note: Students hired for UROP positions posted on ELx must also submit separate formal UROP applications through the UROP application system by the applicable term deadline in order to be paid, receive credit, and have the UROP become part of their MIT record.
ELx offers many helpful features:
- You can specify that students contact you directly if interested in your project OR use ELx’s standard application template that includes questions about student background and experiences, and allows the upload of resumes, etc. You can also choose to include a link to an external application or google form you may have already developed.
- Select from pre-populated keywords or enter your own keywords to enable students to filter opportunities by topic areas.
- Specify the dates your listing will be viewable to students and set an application deadline for those interested in your project.
- You are required to specify projected weekly hours and compensation details.
How to Post UROPs to ELx
Step-by-step instructions
- Visit https://elx-admin-mit-edu.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au and select “+ Add Opportunity.”
- Select your department, lab or center.
- Indicate whether interested students should apply through the internal application form or select external application to specify that students should contact you directly if interested, or provide a link to an external application or google form that you have already developed.
- Provide a project title and add an additional tagline or subtitle as desired.
- Select Undergraduate Research (UROPs) from the Theme / Track / Program dropdown or your listing cannot be properly approved and listed for students.
- Select from pre-populated keywords or add your own.
- Specify location – either on-campus in Cambridge, MA or remote/virtual.
- Select the term(s) the position is offered.
- Provide estimated hours per week.
- Note: in fall and spring, students should not work more than 20 hours per week, but in IAP & Summer students can work up to 40 hours per week.
- Provide a date range that you wish your listing to be viewable to students (students will only see your UROP advertised during this range).
- List an application deadline if you want interested students to contact you by a specified date.
- Provide a project overview/description. Please do not use URLs with “http://” or “https://” within your overview, as it will cause a “Forbidden” error. Instead, provide your link without the preface (e.g. web. or www.) or add a link to your project or lab website in the specific Website URL field.
- Under requirements, you may list any safety considerations or leave this section blank.
- Under “Student Compensation and Expenses,” please select all options that apply.
- If offering a paid UROP, select hourly pay (UROPs cannot be paid via stipend). For hourly rate and units of credit – you may enter “to be arranged” if these will vary.
- If indicating an hourly rate above the UROP Direct Funding rate ($16.00 for AY2024-25) you are suggesting the student will be funded through your lab/DLC resources (e.g. Sponsored Research).
- If you want a student to apply for UROP Direct Funding, list the hourly range with a floor of $16.00 or list as “to be arranged” and be sure to specify a deadline for interested students to connect with you that is in advance of the formal UROP application deadline for the term .
- In the Academics section, list any student eligibility details and pre-requisites. You can also elect to to target specific class years or majors only.
- In the Contact section, please specify the faculty supervisor (by name or Kerberos email). Note that the contact email in this section must be a valid email address (of an individual or an email list), no name or other detail can be added to this field.
Reminder: Students hired for UROP positions posted on ELx must also submit separate formal UROP applications through the UROP application system by the applicable term deadline in order to be paid, receive credit, and have the UROP become part of their MIT record.
UROP Listing Template
This is a template to help you fill in information with your listing. Make your listings brief and include lots of white space.
Every listing should include:
- Title:
- Estimated hours per week: 5-10 (Semester) 30-40 (Summer) Lab:
- Department:
- Required Skills/Classes:
- Preferred Skills/Classes:
- Description:
For the description, remember the 3 types of listings
- Project specific: We are seeking a student to work on [Project]. [1-2 sentences about the project]The student will be responsible for [at least 3 duties relating to the project]. The outcome of this UROP will be [the component they are contributing to]. Possible outcomes may include [list reach outcomes like publication, etc if that is a possibility for a student].We are hoping the student will stay on for [x amount of terms].More information about the project can be found here: [LINK]
- Seeking a student of a certain profile: an umbrella set of skills that can be useful in a laboratory or if you are interested in working with a first year student if applicable.
- Exploratory: a new process, tool, and/or literature that you do not have the bandwidth to explore but that you need to be explored for the greater research agenda
If you have any questions or concerns about how to post a UROP listing, please contact UROP staff: urop@mit.edu.
Note: All submissions must be reviewed and approved by UROP staff prior to being viewable to students. Please be aware this process may take 1-2 business days. You will receive email notification when your listing is live.
Additional Ways to Advertise your Project
- Post your position on public bulletin boards around campus.
- Ask your department’s undergraduate office to post your position and advertise it to department majors.
- Inform your department’s UROP Coordinator that you are looking for UROPs and ask to have interested students referred to you.
- Find the student on your own (i.e. choose a student from one of your classes or one of your advisees).