[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/UROP_05.jpg” caption=”Civil engineering and management students David Heska, left, and Shayne Love, pose with their research posters at the Faculty of Engineering’s annual Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program poster presentation. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay”]For civil engineering and management students David Heska and Shayne Love, the Faculty of Engineering's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) has made the decision to continue on to graduate school much easier.

“We worked with a lot of graduate students over the past year who gave us a really good view of what graduate school is like,” says Love, who intends to continue his research on “tuned liquid dampers” in graduate school when he completes his undergraduate degree in two years.

For Heska, whose research project focused on “small-scale modeling of concrete masonry using 1/2 scale units”, the opportunity to be part of the UROP program has proved to him something he has known all along: “Being part of the UROP program has convinced me that McMaster is a very research intensive university. You can take what you learned in your undergrad and practically apply it, even if you're only in second year. It was also beneficial to work alongside so many undergraduate and graduate students.”

The Faculty of Engineering hosted its annual Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program poster presentation on Friday, Aug. 12 on the first and second floors of the John Hodgins Engineering Building.

UROP provides an opportunity for undergraduate students in level 1 and 2 to gain experience in a research-oriented environment and develop mentoring relationships with professors and graduate students.

Students entering the Faculty of Engineering with 95 per cent plus averages are guaranteed a UROP position. Other students may apply for positions or generate their own positions by proposing projects to professors. Once accepted for a UROP positions, students complete 15 weeks of research-based employment working with faculty and research center staff. Annually 60-65 students are employed through UROP.