Students Gather for 25th Annual CIC Student Research Opportunities Program (SROP) Conference

The CIC’s 25th Summer Research Opportunities Program Conference convenes this weekend, July 15 through July 17, 2011 at the Graduate School of Ohio State University. The conference will bring together more than 400 undergraduate researchers, CIC SROP program alumni, faculty, and staff from CIC member campuses, and other supporters. The theme for the conference this year is “iSROP—Graduate School . . .. Have You App’d Yet?”

The CIC SROP Conference is the capstone event of this summer’s program, bringing all of the Summer Research Opportunity Program students together from across the CIC to share the results of their research through panels and poster sessions, and to network with faculty, staff, sponsors, and recruiters. 

Events include workshops such as, What You Thought You Knew About Graduate School—There’s an App for That! led by Kenneth Poff, Michigan State University; People of Color Pursuing a Ph.D. led by Dr. Monique Mills, Speech and Hearing Science, The Ohio State University; The Ten Lenses:  Being a Minority on a Majority Campus led by Suzanne Adair, Assistant Dean, Graduate School and Senior Director, Office of Graduate Educational Equity Programs, Penn State University; and Applications for Fellowships and Funding led by Anthony Rene of the National Science Foundation, Chris O’Brien of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Chris Cash from the Institute for Broadening Participation.  Please visit the full Conference schedule to learn more about the available events.

Implemented in 1986, The Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a gateway to graduate education at CIC universities.  The goal of the program is to increase educational access for students underrepresented in graduate education.  SROP helps prepare undergraduates for graduate study through intensive research experiences with faculty mentors and enrichment activities. 

Over 12,260 scholars have participated in SROP since the program’s inception. To date, 571 program alumni have earned a Ph.D. degree and are now preparing the next generation of SROP scholars as mentors and teachers.  Thousands of others have completed graduate training and are pursuing successful careers in government, business and non-profit agencies.  

Established in 1958, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is an academic consortium of thirteen major research and teaching universities, including the members of the Big 10. CIC programs and opportunities extend to all aspects of university activity except intercollegiate athletics. Collectively, the CIC institutions annually engage in more than $6 billion of funded research, employ over 33,000 faculty members, and enroll some 400,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on their campuses. CIC universities confer more than 15 % of all of all Ph.D. degrees awarded nationally, nearly 20% of all Ph.D.’s in engineering, chemistry and computer science, and nearly 25% of all Ph.D.’s in agriculture.  Thus the influence that CIC universities, working together, exert on graduate education is substantial.  For more information about the CIC, student programs, and other opportunities, please visit the CIC web site, or contact the CIC SROP Coordinator, or SROP Program Coordinators on the individual CIC campuses.