Undergraduate Training Programs and Resources

REU Summer Institute 

Each year the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with the Department of Sociology, hosts the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. This ten-week summer program, which is primarily funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, offers ten very selective upper-division undergraduate students from both UT-Austin and from around the country the opportunity to study social demography through course work and a mentored research experience with senior PRC graduate students. The program pays for tuition, room and board, computer expenses, and books. Students also receive a stipend for participation in the program, which allows the selected students to fully concentrate on their REU experience over the 2-month program. Students register for a 3-hour summer course during the first half of the summer, then dedicate the second half of the summer to their own projects in collaboration with their graduate student mentor and under the overall guidance of the faculty co-directors. Student papers are then presented at the fall meeting of the Southern Demographic Association. This program is specifically geared toward students with junior standing who are seriously thinking about attending graduate school in the social sciences and, particularly, in sociology and demography.

In 2010, the focus will be on Immigration, Geography, and Race/Ethnicity in the United States. Please check back for details about the upcoming REU program and the program application. 

UT Undergraduate Certificate Program: "Social Inequality, Health, and Policy"

UT's Bridging Disciplines Program (BDP) is an interdisciplinary certificate program that helps students organize area requirements, electives, major requirements, internships, and research experiences around an interdisciplinary theme. One of the eight interdisciplinary themes, "Social Inequality, Health, and Policy," introduces students to the statistical study of human populations, with fundamental attention to issues of social and economic inequality. Through courses in Sociology, Educational Psychology, Anthropology, Social Work, Economics, Government, and Geography, students develop their skills in demography and policy analysis. Students may create specializations related to Family, Fertility & Human Development, Migration & Diaspora Population Studies, Public Health & Social Ethnology, and Social Inequality & Public Policy.

Undergraduate students accepted into the Social Inequality, Health, and Policy BDP have the opportunity to intern on faculty research projects at the PRC, better preparing them for graduate school, and for careers with governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations.

For more information on this program, please visit the BDP program's website.

EUREKA!

The University of Texas at Austin has a Web-based resource called EUREKA! to inspire undergraduate students to become involved in research and innovation and to enhance communication among faculty members across colleges and schools. The site features a university-wide directory of the research interests of more than 1,500 faculty members. With EUREKA!, students can find professors with expertise on subjects ranging from "adolescence" and "aging" to "urban studies" and "viruses." The Web site also allows students and faculty to identify areas of expertise by browsing according to college, department, research projects and research/academic unit.