Rising Tide of Undergraduate Research Will Be Showcased at Annual Symposium

LOGAN — Utah State University is experiencing record-breaking undergraduate research participation, with increasing numbers of students conducting studies across topics ranging from film analysis to cherry orchard health.

Over 250 student research presentations will be featured at the 2025 Fall Student Research Symposium, an event that gives students the chance to share their projects with the USU community and a broader public. This year marks the largest-ever Fall Student Research Symposium, which has grown steadily from its humble inaugural event of 15 presentations in 2013. In addition to nearly 425 undergraduates (about 100 more than last year), for the first year they will be joined by 22 graduate presenters.

As USU wraps up its Year of Undergraduate Research, it’s fitting that the current cycle of Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunity (URCO) grants has also received the highest volume of applications since before the COVID pandemic. Alexa Sand, associate vice president for research, attributes this to USU’s long-standing culture of student involvement in research.

“The numbers we’re seeing are a direct result of half a century of dedicated work from our faculty, staff and administration to ingrain undergraduate research into USU’s culture,” Sand said. “These programs not only survive, but we expect them to keep growing as incoming students and faculty learn about the opportunities USU offers for hands-on research experience.”

Encouraging students to participate in research empowers them to ask big questions, think critically and contribute fresh ideas to their field. Students have the chance to engage with their community and develop skills that prepare them for graduate studies, careers and civil leadership.

“I was deeply involved in hands-on experiments and felt like I was making real progress toward solving important problems,” says Emilia Huff, an Undergraduate Research Fellow who has been working on an URCO grant since spring. “This experience gave me the confidence to take on bigger projects and convinced me how much I wanted to pursue research that could make a difference in people’s lives.”

The upcoming Fall Student Research Symposium will be open to the public and feature research from every college, with projects from novice researchers to doctoral thesis work. The event will take place on Dec. 4 in the Merrill-Cazier Library on the Logan campus.