SURE Program ‘graduates’ its largest class yet

Robert Nesmith
Communications & Marketing

While Tech’s summer semester may be more quiet in regards to enrolled students, each year qualified underrepresented students from around the country participate in graduate program research.

	The Institute’s Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science Program (SURE) offers opportunities for underrepresented students to participate in graduate-level research. This year’s SURE Program had 33 participants, the largest group since its inception in 1992.

Debuted in 1992 as GT-SUPREEM, the Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science program (SURE) attracts nearly 30 rising juniors and seniors to take part in research activities at Georgia Tech. The 10-week program pairs underrepresented minority students with a faculty advisor and a graduate student mentor.

Electrical and Computer Engineering School Chair Gary May created the initial program through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). In its inaugural year, May says, nine students attended. As the program introduces students to graduate programs and students at Tech, the overall goal is to attract more minority students into science and engineering graduate schools.

This year’s program consisted of 33 participants across nine areas of study. “We have students from all science, engineering and computing disciplines,” said Leyla Conrad, director of Outreach for ECE. “The program helps create opportunities for these students. If [they] participate in research, it makes it easier for them to be accepted into graduate school.” ECE and mechanical engineering had the most representatives, with seven students each. Industrial and systems, biomedical and polymer, textiles and fiber engineering had one student each. Other disciplines included chemical and biochemical engineering, chemistry, physics and civil engineering.

Even though it’s a summer program, May and Conrad begin the admission process each February by contacting the Institute’s science, engineering and computing chairs. The invitation is then extended to faculty members to “host” or advise a student. “We actually have more faculty who initially volunteer,” May said. “But we are sometimes unable to provide a good disciplinary or research match.”

Student applications are due March 1. More than 200 students applied for the program in 2009. “We look at their transcripts and two recommendation letters,” Conrad said. “This year, 90 percent of the applicants have a GPA over 3.0.” For 2009, she and May selected about 50 students, whose applications were loaded onto T-Square, where faculty members could rank their top three choices.

“Many faculty are conducting interdisciplinary research,” Conrad said. “So, for example, a mechanical engineering professor may select a chemistry major, depending on his or her research.”

When students arrive on campus, they generally are paired with a graduate student in the faculty advisor’s lab. Each week students attend a research status meeting and a seminar, as well as industry visits and social events.

The rest of the time, they work with graduate students in the lab on research selected by the advisors. At the end of the session, students present their research to the group.

SURE students are also provided with skill-development courses, such as GRE preparation classes, workshops on delivering presentations and seminars on graduate school admission and how to obtain funding. Financial support is still provided through the NSF REU [Research Experience for Undergraduates] program and was just renewed for another three years. Intel, Agilent Technologies Foundation, FACES and the Georgia Tech Lab for New Electronics Materials (NSF MRSEC) also provide funding for the program. While at Tech, students are provided campus housing, a meal plan and a stipend.

According to May, the largest hurdles—aside from funding—are developing a suitable schedule, as students from the different schools have varying summer calendars, and campus housing minutiae. This year, attendees came from as far as California, Arizona, New York and Michigan. Four students are from Puerto Rico.

In the 17 years since the program’s inception, most of the hurdles have been worked out, Conrad says.

	Gary S. May

“I think one advantage of SURE over other similar programs is the robust research and social environment provided by Georgia Tech,” May said. “There are many REU programs, and therefore many similar students for SURE participants to interact with.”

According to Conrad, the results tell the tale. As of 2008, 369 students had attended the program, and about three-quarters of SURE students were accepted into graduate school. “Half of those who attended graduate school came to Tech,” she said.

Georgia Tech is currently ranked No. 6 in engineering master’s degrees awarded to all under-represented students (No. 2 for African-American students and No. 13 for Hispanic students) and ranks No. 3 in engineering doctoral degrees awarded to all categories of minority students (No. 1 for African-American students and No. 6 for Hispanic students).