Social Sciences
Undergraduate Research
Get paid to do research with an A&S faculty mentor through ASSURE.
Arts & Sciences Support for Undergraduate Research Experience provides funded positions for A&S undergraduates working on faculty-led research projects across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Applications open for Fall 2027 / Spring 2028
Submit through InfoReady with a faculty mentor's involvement and approval.
Deadline: Friday, April 16, 2027 · 11:59 p.m.
Award
$3,200
per academic year
Stipend
$400 / mo
eight monthly payments
Per Semester
$1,600
fall and spring
Term
Full Year
academic year 2027–2028
What ASSURE supports
ASSURE fosters faculty-student research collaborations in which undergraduates engage in thoughtful, progressively sophisticated work that is central to the principal investigator's overall research program. The College particularly welcomes proposals that engage lower-division students and students who represent the New Mexican community.
Proposals are evaluated against the funding priorities of the ASSURE initiative: providing resources to students who see research as key to their overall trajectory at UNM and beyond; projects with clear undergraduate researcher outcomes; and demonstrated commitment to inclusive excellence.
Before you apply
- The faculty mentor must have a primary appointment in the College of Arts & Sciences.
- The student must have a declared pre-major or major in an A&S academic program and be currently enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours in the College.
- The student is required to work with their faculty mentor on the application and will upload a resource letter from the mentor explaining what resources will be available to complete the work.
- A faculty mentor can apply with a maximum of two undergraduate students. A primary proposal must be identified; the secondary will only be considered if funds are available.
- A student researcher is limited to one application with one faculty mentor.
- This program is open to all departments and programs at the College of Arts & Sciences. Proposals from humanities and social science departments are especially encouraged.
The award is for the full academic year: eight monthly stipends of $400 each, totaling $1,600 per semester and $3,200 across the academic year. Stipends are deposited into the student's bursar account.
Applicants will need to provide the following through InfoReady:
- Identification: Name, email, and Banner ID
- Current undergraduate status
- Anticipated degree
- Cumulative GPA
- Mentor information: name, email, and primary department
- Research plan (300 words max): describe the proposed research question and plan. The plan should be discussed with the mentor before submission.
- Career goals (100 words max): briefly state how this award would contribute to the student's career goals.
- Mentor statement (100 words max): uploaded statement from the mentor describing how resources required for the project will be provided (departmental, extramural grants, in-kind support).
- Awardees commit to the full academic year of research with their faculty mentor.
- Students will present their work at the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference in Spring 2027.
- Students may be asked to participate in periodic ASSURE check-ins to share progress and challenges.
From Conversation to Conference
01
Find a mentor
Identify an A&S faculty member whose research aligns with your interests. Reach out and talk through how you might collaborate.
02
Build the proposal together
Work with your mentor on the research plan, career goals statement, and mentor resource letter. All three must be coordinated.
03
Submit by April 16
Submit the full application through InfoReady by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 16, 2027.
04
Research and present
Receive monthly stipends across Fall 2027 and Spring 2028, then present at the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference.
2026–27 Cohort
Meet this year's ASSURE researchers.
The 2026–27 cohort includes twenty A&S undergraduates working on year-long projects with faculty mentors across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Humanities
Developing a Lexical Database for an Indigenous Amazonian Language
Social Sciences
Healthcare Workforce and Nursing Retention in NM
Social Sciences
Does Non-Average Height Make It Harder to Estimate Sex Using Bony Measurements
Social Sciences
Cognition in Spanish-English Bilingual Children in New Mexico
Humanities
Atomic Influences: Gendered Impacts on Navajo Uranium Miners in the Atomic Age
Natural Sciences
Nucleic Acid Structure Regulated Phase Transitions in Gene Expression
Social Sciences
Emissions Trading System in NM
Humanities
Hand Talk Collaborative - Native Signed Language Revitalization
Natural Sciences
Training in Echolalia Measurement: Supporting Systematic Review, Behavioral Coding and Tool Development
Natural Sciences
Characterization and Performance Optimization of Trenched 3D Silicon Detectors
Natural Sciences
Habitat Suitability and Ecology of Peripheral Plants in NM
Social Sciences
Does Anxiety Independently Shape the Brain's Reward Signal
Social Sciences
Using Advanced Quantitative Methods to Identify Critical Predictors of Substance Use in NM Youth to Inform Prevention
Social Sciences
Reframing the Urban Margins: Young People's Perspectives on Violence, Social Inequality and Persistence in ABQ's International District
Humanities
Regional, Hispanophone Public Humanities: Connecting Research to Community
Natural Sciences
Improving the Detection of Exoplanet Transits Using Machine Learning
Humanities
Scattered Records, Structured Absences: Towards a Trans Archive of NM
Natural Sciences
Hepatozoon Blood Parasites and Their Association With Bd Infections in Frogs
Natural Sciences
Analyzing Sediment Runoff and Its Effects on Harmful Algae Blooms in Yukon Delta
Direct all student inquires to asadvise@unm.edu or (505) 277-4621.
© The University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131, (505) 277-0111
New Mexico's Flagship University