Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship program seeking spring session proposals

Purdue faculty in West Lafayette are invited to submit project proposals for the spring 2026 term of the Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship (DUIRI) program. Proposals will be accepted starting Sept. 8 until Oct. 10.

DUIRI supports faculty-led teams of undergraduates in investigating problems in the strategic areas of global security, global health and global sustainability. Faculty project proposals should focus on one of these three thematic areas.

Each project should involve two or more distinct academic disciplines (represented by faculty from different departments and, ideally, colleges) with one identified project lead. No faculty cost-sharing will be required. Faculty may submit multiple proposals, however, each faculty member will be allotted only one project for spring 2026, regardless of the number of proposals submitted.

Important instructions for faculty submitting proposals:

• While filling in information about your proposal on the OURConnect portal, please ensure that under the “Research Area” field you enter only one of the three categories: global security, global health or global sustainability.
• When completing the description, in addition to describing the details of your project, you should also explain how the project addresses a challenge in the selected research area.

DUIRI will partner with the Institute for a Sustainable Future this spring. ISF will sponsor several projects in global sustainability that align with their current research areas. Projects suitable for partnering with ISF should explicitly state “ISF” in the title, and the project description should address how the project tackles a sustainability challenge. Faculty actively engaged with a partnering institute will receive priority consideration in sponsored research areas.

Faculty can submit abstracts for individual projects on the DUIRI website, using their Purdue Career Account credentials to log in. Undergraduate students may then apply for up to three projects from Oct. 20 to Nov. 3. Faculty project supervisors will review all eligible student applications before making final selections. The deadline for selecting students is Nov. 14.

During the spring semester, students will be responsible for pursuing their research projects, culminating with a poster presentation and a one-page abstract or summary of their results. Assuming all requirements are met, each participating student will earn a $1,000 spring semester fellowship from the DUIRI program that will be credited to their bursar account.

More information is available on the DUIRI website. Faculty should direct any questions about the program to Peter Bermel at pbermel@purdue.edu. Students should contact Pramukh Gowda at duiri@purdue.edu or pramanna@purdue.edu.