Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URS) — Research Program

The Undergraduate Research Scholars Program pairs Texas Tech Honors undergraduates from any major with research-active faculty at TTU or TTUHSC. Students undertake mentored research on campus and enter at a tier aligned with their prior research role and proposed responsibility.

The four tiers share one application process but carry different semester-hour commitments and deadlines. Emerging Professional and Collaborator suit advanced and intermediate researchers, while Apprentice and Explorer provide entry routes for beginners.

Benefits & funding

Students may receive wages for research work or choose academic credit; the current official pages do not publish the wage rate.
Paid tiers provide 100 hours per semester for Emerging Professional, 75 for Collaborator, and 25 for Apprentice; Explorer is a 25-hour short-term project.
URS students may apply for conference travel support when Honors College and departmental funds are available.

Eligibility

Applicants must be Texas Tech Honors undergraduate students; all majors are eligible.
A research-active faculty mentor at TTU or TTUHSC must support the application by submitting the Mentor’s Pledge.
Emerging Professional applicants need substantial prior undergraduate research and a lead or co-lead author or principal-investigator role; Collaborators should contribute at co-author or co-investigator level.
Apprentice and Explorer are beginning-researcher routes, with Apprentice designed as an entry-level placement and Explorer as a modest short-term project.
The official pages publish no separate nationality, gender, age, or work-experience-year requirement beyond current Honors undergraduate status.

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Education required
Bachelor Enrolled

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Application process

1
Identify a research-active TTU or TTUHSC faculty member whose work matches the proposed project and secure their agreement to mentor.
2
Complete and submit the student portion of the official URS Application.
3
Send the generated link to the mentor so they can submit the Mentor’s Pledge.
4
Wait for the URS committee’s decision; accepted students who have not previously worked for the university receive hiring documents for the paid route.

Program timeline

Emerging Professional and Collaborator application deadline.
September 15, 2026
Apprentice application deadline.
October 1, 2026
Explorer application deadline.
January 15, 2027
Emerging Professional, Collaborator, and Explorer scholars must submit to the Undergraduate Research Conference; Apprentice submission is optional.
Spring 2027
Program start and end dates
Not published on the official pages.