Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship program seeks faculty proposals for fall 2024 session

Proposals are now being accepted from faculty on the West Lafayette campus for the Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship (DUIRI) program, which supports faculty-led teams of undergraduates to investigate problems in the strategic areas of global security, global health and global sustainability.

Faculty project proposals for fall 2024 should focus on these thematic areas. Each project should involve two or more distinct academic disciplines (represented by faculty from different departments) and undergraduate students. No faculty cost-sharing will be required. 

DUIRI will partner with the Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF),  Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering (RCHE), and the Lilly Purdue Research Center (LPRC) this spring. ISF, RCHE and LPRC will sponsor multiple projects in global sustainability and global health, respectively, that align with their current research areas. Projects suitable for partnering with these entities should explicitly state “ISF” or “RCHE” or “LPRC” in the title. Faculty actively engaged with a partnering institute will receive priority consideration in sponsored research areas.

Interested faculty can submit abstracts for individual projects at the DUIRI website, using their Purdue Career account credentials to log on. The deadline for proposal submissions is June 7.

Undergraduate students may then apply for three projects from June 26 to July 12. Faculty project supervisors will review all eligible student applications before making final selections. The deadline for selecting students will be July 26. Students will pursue their research projects during the fall term, beginning Aug. 19. Their internship will culminate with a poster presentation and one-page abstract/summary of their results. Assuming all requirements are met, each participating student will earn a $1,000 fall 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 Kate Mitsch at kmmitsch@purdue.edu.