URSA-ENGAGE Program
Research Opportunity Description/Application for Faculty
Thank you for proposing an undergraduate research project for the URSA-ENGAGE Program.
Please fill out the form below and email it to Kevin Ahern at ahernk@onid.orst.edu by October
29, 2014. Research opportunities will be compiled and posted on the URSA Web site (link) for
students to consider and apply for starting on November 3. Students will have until November 17
to apply for up to two positions of interest to them.
After the deadline for student applications is complete, applications for each project will be
processed and emailed to the respective faculty member for review. Faculty will be asked to rank
and provide the names of the top three applicants by December 1. Decisions will be announced
by the Undergraduate Research Working Group on December 8. URSA-ENGAGE is open to
professors and students in ALL disciplines across the OSU campus and the preference will be
given to proposals and applications that diversify the research enterprise at OSU, especially as
related to under-represented groups of students and faculty.
Instructions:
Please complete the information requested on the following page and email to
ahernk@onid.orst.edu. An example application is appended to the end of this document.
You may develop project proposals that cover as many as three terms – winter, spring,
and fall of 2015. At this time, we do not have sufficient funds to support students in a
summer program. However, if you are able to do so, we encourage you consider
supporting your student intern through the summer. Student applicants will be expected
to participate in the development of project budgets with you. All students will be
required to submit a 2 page written report of their work no later than December 31, 2015
and to participate in the Celebrating Undergraduate Excellence (CUE) event in either the
spring of 2014 or 2015.
We require that if faculty members propose projects requiring approval of any of the
entities below that they already have approval for the work before submitting the
proposal. This way, adding a student to the approval will only require an amendment to
the original approval. We will NOT consider applications that do not have the necessary
approvals below before submission of the proposal.
• Human Subjects: OSU Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Live Vertebrate Animals: OSU Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
(IACUC)
• Recombinant DNA Molecules Transgenic Plants or Animal, and/or Infectious
Agents of Plants, Animals, or Humans: OSU Institutional Biosafety
Committee (IBC)
• Ionizing Radiation: OSU Radiation Safety Committee (RSC)
• Chemical Carcinogens: OSU Chemical Safety Committee (CSC)
• Scuba Diving, Free Diving, and/or Small Boating Operations:
OSU Scientific
Diving and Small Boating Programs
URSA-ENGAGE PROGRAM
Faculty Project Proposal Summary
(to be posted for student review/selection)
Calendar Year 2015 Program
Faculty Name & Department/School:
Research Project Title:
Project Overview: (100 words maximum)
What skills will students obtain in this project?
Student research tasks
Number of hours per week expected of student:
Preferred Faculty Contact Information: (i.e. Office hours, email, and/or phone
number for designated point of contact )
 Yes  No: Human Subjects
 Yes  No: Live Vertebrate Animals
 Yes  No: Recombinant DNA Molecules Transgenic Plants or Animal, and/or
Infectious Agents of Plants, Animals, or Humans
 Yes  No: Ionizing Radiation
 Yes  No: Chemical Carcinogens
 Yes  No: Scuba Diving, Free Diving
 Yes  No: Small Boating Operations
Approval Number(s) from above, if relevant:
Email this completed form to ahernk@onid.orst.edu
URSA-ENGAGE PROGRAM – EXAMPLE APPLICATION
Faculty Project Proposal Summary
(to be posted for student review/selection)
Calendar Year 2015 Program
Faculty Name & Department/School:
John Jones, Department of Excellent Research, College of Agricultural Sciences
Research Project Title: Characterization of Antibiotics Leading to Rhodococcus
fascians virulence
Project Overview: (100 words maximum)
The formation of resistance is important for many bacterial life cycles.
Rhodococcus fascians is a plant pathogen of plants for studying antibiotic resistance in
Gram-positive bacteria and understanding plant-pathogen interactions. The student will
characterize strains of R. fascians for their ability to develop resistance to antibiotics as a
function of their virulence. In addition, the student will learn to work with clonal isolates
and make mutations in genes hypothesized to be necessary for antibiotic resistance.
What skills will students obtain in this project?
Students will learn skills important for success in the laboratory, classroom, and
in their career, including scientific thinking, experimental design, data analysis,
organization, written and oral communication skills, microbiology, molecular biology,
and plant-microbe interactions. There may also be opportunities to learn biocomputing.
Student research tasks
Making solutions and media, maintaining bacterial cultures, gene cloning, and biofilms
and pathogen virulence assays.
(Spring and Fall) (circle as appropriate)
Number of hours per week expected of student: 10-12
Preferred Faculty Contact Information: (i.e. Office hours, email, and/or phone
number for designated point of contact )
ahernk@science.oregonstate.edu
 Yes  No: Human Subjects
 Yes  No: Live Vertebrate Animals
 Yes  No: Recombinant DNA Molecules Transgenic Plants or Animal,
and/or Infectious Agents of Plants, Animals, or Humans
 Yes  No: Ionizing Radiation
 Yes  No: Chemical Carcinogens
 Yes  No: Scuba Diving, Free Diving
 Yes  No: Small Boating Operations
Approval Number(s) from above, if relevant: Program Proposal #6198, Molecular
plant-bacterial interactions; approved for 3 years starting 1/31/13.
Email this completed form to ahernk@onid.orst.edu