Undergraduate Research Scholars Program

Each semester we will have a different group of Interplanetary Initiative research projects that are seeking support from undergraduate students. You can take a look at our research project portfolio to get a sense of the types of interdisciplinary topics we investigate.

In previous semesters, IIURSP students have contributed to projects like:

• SpaceHACK for Sustainability—How can we involve students in leveraging space technologies to achieve the UN SDGs?
• A Customer Discovery-Led Systematic Analysis Study of the U.S. Space Economy—Who are the customers of the space economy and what are their needs?
• DEIA Service Model Offering—How do we build a JEDI (just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive) space for all of humanity?
• Mars on the Field—How do we galvanize public and private support for space exploration, an arena that can seem inaccessible to most people?

As part of this experience, selected students will receive mentoring in key research skills as well as support for their career growth and professional development.

The exact expectations of your work will depend on the research project you join. All selected students are expected to:

• Commit 6–9 hours per week for the 15-week semester. 
• Attend regular, synchronous research team meetings (typically held via Zoom).
• Submit a final project deliverable and statement of impact at the end of the research experience.

To be eligible to participate in this program, you must:

• Be enrolled in an ASU undergraduate degree program during the application term
• Be in good academic standing (i.e. not on academic probation)

Yes! Selected students who wish to participate in the program for credit will enroll into IPI 499, and honors students will automatically receive honors credit for this course.

Yes! Students may participate in this program multiple times. Depending on project needs, some students are asked to stay on into the next semester, and we have had students reapply to new projects if their previous wrapped up.