Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
Launch your scholarly career at Carthage! Our Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) is a full-time, paid summer program that empowers students in all majors to lead original scholarly and creative endeavors.
Working side-by-side with faculty mentors, students explore important research questions, form new understandings of events or artifacts, create original works of art, and more. SURE culminates in a professional presentation of student works to the Carthage community, including students’ families and friends, at the annual Celebration of Scholars.
Program highlights:
- Collaborate closely with a faculty mentor to develop a research plan
- Develop a professional relationship with faculty through direct and regular mentorship-focused interactions
- Receive a stipend, room, and board to support immersive, full-time summer work
- Participate in regular professional development, social, and networking opportunities
- Learn from peers and receive peer feedback through regular, informal progress presentations
- Present findings at a campus-wide celebration
Who can apply?
SURE is open to all full-time Carthage students in their first through third year of study. We welcome scholars from every major.
Outcomes:
Previous SURE students have jump-started their scholarly careers by:
- Co-authoring papers in peer-reviewed journals and presenting findings at international and national conferences
- Gaining technical expertise using cutting-edge instrumentation and applying scholarly methods
- Securing future internships, full-time employment, or admission to top-tier graduate, medical, or professional schools
SURE Research
Carthage SURE projects cover all academic disciplines at Carthage.
See a full list of past research projects by year
Past project topics
- Examining ableist tropes in literature (English)
- Design a rocket payload to test a groundbreaking zero-gravity propellant gauge (physics)
- Studying expert magicians’ views on magic and misdirection (psychology)
- Surveying the prevalence of burnout among student-athletes (exercise and sports science)
- Exploring carbon dioxide sensitivity in behaviorally inhibited rates and their consequences of extended space travel (neuroscience)
- Analyzing the impact of salary cap structures on labor market processes in professional sports leagues (management and marketing)
- Developing care of the spirit of vulnerable patients with cancer (nursing)
- Writing a verbatim theater play about the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha (theater)
- Investigating the systemic infection of potato virus Y in potatoes and tobacco (biochemistry)
How to Participate
The Carthage SURE program seeks applicants from students in their first through the third year of study at Carthage and welcomes students from all majors. Students apply to the program during the spring semester. Each academic division at Carthage has its own eligibility guidelines and selection process.
The deadline to apply for SURE 2026 was Tuesday, March 24, 2026.
Applications for SURE 2027 will open in spring 2027.