Reporting of Undergraduate Research (UR) Experiences

Longitudinal UR at a Glance

This printable 1-sheet summary gives a high-level overview of the OUR and key metrics since fall 2017. For deeper exploration, refer to the Institutional Key Metrics of UR dashboard.

• Access: Anyone.
• Limitations: 
  • This summary is updated after each academic year ends. Reported numbers will not include the current academic year, and thus may not align with other reporting from the OUR that is updated each term.
  • Reporting is based on data available at the time the reporting was compiled. Data from prior years/terms will be added, which will change reported numbers when updated.
  • Incomplete records and errors will impact reporting accuracy. 

Institutional Key Metrics of UR

This site provides key institutional-level UR metrics for engagement in undergraduate research. Summarizes longitudinal key metrics from all tracked UR experiences since fall 2017. Similar to the "unit-level" reporting, but not filterable by any division or department.

• Access: Any person with a current, valid Purdue login (via Microsoft MFA).
• Limitations: 
  • If there is no corresponding academic or employment record for the term a UR experience occurred, then we will look back one term for this information.
  • Cases with no term-specific division, or the division is outside the scope of academic division, will not appear in any reporting by division.
• Limitations: 
  • Reporting is based on data available at the time the reporting was compiled. Data from prior years/terms will be added, which will change reported numbers. Please check this report for the most recent version. 
  • Incomplete records and errors will impact reporting accuracy. 

UR Definitions

This site and a corresponding OUR white paper summarize definitions related to UR, including:

• General definitions
• People who engage in UR 
• Categories of UR 
• Models of UR 

UR and Retention

• Access: Any person with a current, valid Purdue login (via Microsoft MFA).
• Limitations: This report is based on the same dataset used to create the institutional Undergraduate Retention and Graduation Rates dashboard. Hence, cases of UR experiences are excluded for students who did not appear in the institutional dataset.

These summaries provide key UR metrics for engagement in undergraduate research for Purdue academic divisions and departments. Please note the following significant limitations in identifying and using divisions and departments.

• Limitations:
  • Mentor's division/department for reporting is based on:
    • If employees who are faculy, staff, or post docs, their employment record, 
    • If graduate students who are also employed, then ther academic and employment records, or 
    •  If a graduate student who is not employed, their academic record only.
  • Students’ division/department for reporting is based on the academic units of their major (or honors cohort for JMHC reporting). Exceptions are:
    • If a student is not enrolled in the term of the UR experience (common in summer), an employment record may be used.
    • UR experiences where the term was unknown will not appear in any term-specific reporting, but may appear in cumulative reporting.
    • Non-academic divisions/departments (e.g., IT) will not appear in any reporting by division/department.
  • If there is no corresponding academic or employment record for the term a UR experience occurred, then we will look back in time one term for this information.
  • The OUR does not track if the UR experience aligns with the reported division/department. (For example, a student with a major in Science could have been part of a research experience unrelated to Science.)
• Reporting Conflict: A person could have more than one division/department, so the same person can appear in multiple reports by division or department. Hence, it is inaccurate to create a sum of divisional counts and treat that as a sum.

Key Metrics of UR by Academic Division

• Access:  All academic deans and their delegates (via Microsoft MFA). 

Key Metrics of UR by Academic Department

• Access:  Select academic department heads and their delegates (via Microsoft MFA). 

Purdue undergraduate researchers present their work to the Purdue community through events hosted each semester by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Events offered since Fall 2018 include:

• Fall Undergraduate Research Expo
• Spring Undergraduate Research Conference
• Spring Innovation & Excellence Showcase in Indianapolis (est. Spring 2025)
• Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Longitudinal Conference Report

Summarizes key metrics from all events between fall 2018 and the most recent event.

• Access: Any person with a current, valid Purdue login (via Microsoft MFA).
• Limitations: Reporting based on information provided within conference applications. Some fields/values not reported due to changes in application content or missing information.  

Conference Reporting by Event & Year 

For the events offered since fall 2023, these reports provide greater details of key metrics for each event, or for all events within an academic year.

• Access: Any person with a current, valid Purdue login (via Microsoft MFA).
• Limitations: Reporting based on information provided within conference applications. Some fields/values are not reported due to changes in application content or missing information.  

Conference Judging Results/Feedback (for review by Presenters & Mentors only)

Designed to facilitate the dissemination of judging results and feedback for events occurring since summer 2025. Reporting is based on the login, and for any instances that login appears as either a student presenter or a mentor for a presentation.

• Access: Any person with a current, valid Purdue login (via Microsoft MFA) and they are associated with at least one presentation for which a judge evaluation was completed.
• Limitations: Access based on information provided during conference applications, and some invalid e-mails were provided. Only Purdue e-mails matching the login will show reporting. (Not working e-mails include: invalid e-mails, Purdue vanity e-mails, and any e-mail based on a domain other than @purdue.edu.) 
• Archive: From spring 2019 to spring 2025, different evaluation criteria were used and these results are no longer published. 

Conference Judge Evaluation - Summary 

For the events offered since summer 2025, this report summarizes the overall and categorical scores from formal judging.

• Access: Any person with a current, valid Purdue login (via Microsoft MFA).
• Limitations: Reporting based on formal judging only; peer  judging not included.