Welcome
The mission of SUNY Cortland's Undergraduate Research Council:
- Promote SUNY Cortland as an institution fully committed to student research, scholarship, and creative pursuits.
- Collect and disseminate current best practices for undergraduate research.
- Communicate the benefits to students and faculty for being engaged in a broad range of experiential activities.
- Support research projects through a number of competitive fellowships and grants.
SUNY Cortland students' contributions to society and their high standards of excellence are consistent with the National Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR) and exemplify our College mission and vision. “Undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry is fundamentally a pedagogical approach to teaching and learning. With an emphasis on process, CUR defines undergraduate research as a mentored investigation or creative inquiry conducted by undergraduates that seeks to make a scholarly or artistic contribution to knowledge”. By adopting the CUR definition, SUNY Cortland is committed to supporting undergraduate research across departments and disciplines and expects that students will disseminate their research findings through presentations, publications and other scholarly and artistic pursuits.
Student Spotlight
Ava Miranov, 2024 URC Summer Fellowship Recipient
I am currently continuing my research project from the summer into this school year! I will be presenting my research at transformations in the spring along with the undergraduate research conference in Binghamton in April!
Over the summer with the SUNY Cortland undergraduate summer research fellowship, I had the privilege of studying the control of regeneration in terrestrial planarians. During this time, I was able to develop hypotheses, design and conduct experiments based on personal research questions, and interpret collected data. What I learned from my independent research experience includes that research is a long process of dedication full of variable results that guide further research questions and experiments.
Alumni Spotlight
Kaleb, Frierson, 2024 URC Summer Fellowship Recipient
I have been accepted into RUSH Medical College's MD program in Chicago and am a High Priority Alternate on the SUNY Upstate MD/PhD waitlist. I credit undergraduate research at Cortland with my success and identity as a scientist.
Spring 2025 URC Recommended Resources
For Students:
National Council on Undergraduate Research
For faculty: