Office of Undergraduate Research

Reporting of Undergraduate Research (UR) Experiences

Reports and dashboards created by the Office of Undergraduate Research are either accessible to the public or to the Purdue community (via Microsoft MFA) as listed below. If extracting any reported information for other purposes, please use the citation listed in the report/dashboard.

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 or departments. Refer to the OUR's undergraduate research definitions for a description of how division and department values are determined.

Key Metrics of UR by Academic Division

  • Access:  All academic deans and their delegates (via Microsoft MFA). Do you need access for a clear business purpose? Send an email to your dean to request their permission to access reports.
  • 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.
  • Reporting Conflict: Since a person could have more than one division, the same person can appear in multiple reports by division. Hence, it is inaccurate to create a sum of divisional counts and treat that as an institutional sum. 

Key Metrics of UR by Academic Department

Note: Departmental reporting is complicated by changes in department names, merging/separation of departments, and inconsistent naming of departments between academic and employment data sources. Departmental reporting will only appear after a unit representative works with the OUR to resolve these complications.
  • Access:  All academic deans and their delegates (via Microsoft MFA). Do you need access for a clear business purpose? Send an email to your dean to request their permission to access reports.
  • 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 department, or the departments outside the scope of academic division, will not appear in any reporting by department.
  • Reporting Conflict: Since a person could have more than one department, the same person can appear in multiple reports by department. Hence, it is inaccurate to create a sum of departmental counts and treat that as a divisional or institutional sum. 

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.