When I joined MMI in 2021 as the inaugural director of research, one of my early strategic goals was to create a research training program.
Undergraduate research training programs expose students to new fields, provide research skills, establish relationships with mentors and increase competitiveness for graduate school.
Faculty mentors also benefit. Students can help move research projects forward and provide valuable mentorship experience.
In 2022, we launched the MMI Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) as part of the UNMC SURP. SURP provides an intensive 10-week, 40-hour-a-week training program for students completing their freshman through junior years of college. We offer a $6,000 stipend, ensuring students who need to earn income over the summer can still participate. MMI SURP faculty provide hands-on, mentored training in a research laboratory. Each SURP scholar has a research project, which they present in an end-of-program SURP poster session with SURP scholars from across UNMC. The MMI SURP coordinator, Katelyn Kelley, leads weekly group sessions that provide educational, networking and social opportunities.
The program has been highly successful, receiving excellent satisfaction ratings from both SURP scholars and faculty. The students showed improvement across many research skills, including giving oral presentations, scientific writing, learning research techniques and clarifying career paths.
One scholar said, “My experience was really great, as I got to work in a professional office setup and collaborate with a team to tackle problems from different angles. It was eye-opening to see how diverse ideas can actually work together effectively. I also learned how to put together a cool scientific poster and dive into data analyses. Overall, I feel that I’ve gained a lot of practical skills that will be super useful going forward!”
Another scholar said, “Established high-quality relationships with supervisors and peers. Access to research experience and data was unmatched. Best possible summer experience.”
Mentors also had positive experiences. One mentor said, “Every project that includes a SURP student is going to publication. SURP student contributions have helped get the project off the ground and finalized in a few months.”
Another marker of success is the program’s growth. Our applications increased from 17 in the first year to 51 this year. We have expanded from five labs in the first year to 10 this year. One goal this year was to increase the number of scholars from rural Nebraska or smaller regional colleges; this year, 30% of our scholars met these criteria. Our newest goal is to track the long-term success of our scholars. Of the 13 students who have completed MMI’s SURP, we have had six accepted into graduate programs, including clinical psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, organizational psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, physical therapy at UNMC, and medical school at UNMC. We are ecstatic to be a part of retaining the best and brightest in our state!
As we look to the future of the MMI SURP, our commitment remains firm on three key objectives:
- Ensuring sustainable funding for the program;
- Expanding the number of participating labs; and
- Broadening our outreach to embrace more students across the region.
We invite all interested parties — potential funders, academic collaborators, and prospective students — to join us in this exciting growth phase. Your support and involvement are crucial as we strive to nurture the next generation of researchers and make a lasting impact in our community.