About Research Exposure Opportunities

At Carolina, we developed the Research Exposure Opportunities Program to provide an infrastructure to ensure research experiences for all students. The program aims to  (1) increase infrastructure to support undergraduate research, including coordination of summer programs and the addition of more departmental faculty liaisons to the Office of Undergraduate Research; (2) increase departmental courses that support research skills related to writing, analyzing scientific literature, and presenting to peers and non-science audiences; (3) develop mentored team research projects for one-credit courses; create University Research Week to shine a spotlight on the value of research in all disciplines; and (4) support the Undergraduate Research Consultant Team (URCT) program to provide students with the opportunity for inquiry and discovery in the context of real-world cutting edge research, and foster interactions between disciplines.

“I really enjoyed all of what this course had to offer. The chalk talk was the most helpful and rewarding experience. It helped me get a broad idea of my research and acted like an outline for my paper. Presenting my work made me more confident in it and more excited to share it.” 

Research-Related Skills (RRS) courses promote the development of scholarly writing, critical scholarly literature review, and research presentation skills during a student’s undergraduate research experience.  See our course listings.

WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AN RRS?

Research-Related Skills (RRS) classes promote the development of scholarly writing, critical scholarly literature review, and research presentation skills in a group setting similar to “journal club” or “lab group” meetings. Courses are organized around a specific area of research or more general in nature and include activities like in-class critical analyses of literature, writing abstracts, and “chalk talks” about students’ own research, as well as other discipline-specific assignments.

WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AN URCT?

URCT’s are small “strike teams” of students from multiple disciplines who will execute well-defined, one semester projects guided by a faculty advisor. The goals of the URCT program are to (1) provide students with opportunities for inquiry and discovery in the context of real-world cutting-edge research, and (2) foster interactions between disciplines (e.g. Humanities and Natural and Social Sciences) that reflect the diversity of perspectives necessary to solve society’s problems.