Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
The Summer Undergraduate Research Experience at Carthage offers students in all majors the opportunity to engage in collaborative full-time research with professors. Students work closely with faculty mentors on a new or developing line of research.
SURE has been a hallmark of the Carthage experience since the mid-1990s. SURE started in the natural sciences and grew to include all academic divisions at Carthage. Each summer, between 25 and 50 students are chosen to participate.
Students selected to participate in SURE spend 10 weeks doing research full time (40 hours per week) with a faculty mentor.
All SURE students and faculty mentors maintain regular communication with one another, during which students present their progress. At the end of the program, students are required to write a project report and display their findings at a poster session for the Carthage community.
SURE Research
Carthage SURE projects cover all academic disciplines at Carthage. Here is a look at some of the projects students have tackled in recent years.
See a full list of past research projects by year
Past project topics
- Record bat populations using a bat detector (biology)
- Design a rocket payload to test a groundbreaking zero-gravity propellant gauge (physics)
- Investigate the environmental fate of personal care products in local aquatic systems (environmental science)
- Examine the implications of the parent-school choice program (education)
- Study the effects of acute stress on recognition memory in rats (neuroscience)
- Software evolution and the moving picture metaphor (computer science)
- Study the effect of student loans on the economy (economics)
- Adapt the novel Day and Night into a full-length play (theatre)
How to Participate
The Carthage SURE program seeks applicants from students in their first through the third year of study at Carthage and welcomes students from all majors. Students apply to the program during the spring semester. Each academic division at Carthage has its own eligibility guidelines and selection process.
The deadline to apply for SURE in all divisions listed below is Sunday, March 24, 2024.
Learn more
- SURE in the Arts and Humanities
- SURE in the Natural and Social Sciences
- SURE in the Professional Studies Division
- SURE in the School of Business and Economics
Interested students should speak to their professors and/or the chair of their departments to learn more about SURE opportunities. Research mentors are selected prior to the submission of applications.