Participation of university students in scientific research during their undergraduate years contributes to both their academic and personal development in many ways. First of all, the participation of students in applied research during their undergraduate studies encourages them to continue graduate programs or to build their careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the future. It also helps students improve their research skills, decide the academic areas they are interested in, and become part of the research community of the university.
Undergraduate students at Middle East Technical University can take part in scientific projects in departments, research centers and at METU Design Factory, where faculties from different disciplines work together. Examples of undergraduate research projects at METU can be listed as follows:
METU Design Factory
In the Design Factory established with the support of the Ministry of Development, research is conducted on interdisciplinary work, collaborative design approaches, rapid prototyping methods and innovation. Undergraduate students can take part in the design studio and interdisciplinary studies by taking the elective ID403 – Collaborative Design course offered in all departments.
http://tf.metu.edu.tr/
Matter, Undergraduate Research Journal
Issued by METU Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and dedicated only to the research of undergraduate students, Matter Journal is the one and only undergraduate research journal in Turkey. Matter aims to provide an online platform for undergraduate students to publish their own research. Published annually, Matter features original research articles of undergraduate students working on metallurgy and materials.
http://matter.mete.metu.edu.tr/
EEE STAR Program
The Electrical and Electronics Engineering Undergraduate Academic Research (STAR) Program is a one-year program that gives undergraduate students studying electrical and electronics engineering the opportunity to become a part of various research groups in the department and conduct advanced research. The STAR program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to become acquainted with faculty and graduate students, to participate in a settled research group, or to progress towards their own research ideas. One-year program ends with submitting a final report, poster presentations and an award ceremony.
http://star.eee.metu.edu.tr/
Undergraduate Courses
Research and project development courses are available in undergraduate programs at METU. Especially in engineering departments, the fourth grade students are offered undergraduate research courses and an environment where they can conduct their undergraduate research studies and develop their own projects. Sample courses and their content are as follows:
METE388 and METE488 COURSES: In the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, undergraduate students carry out research activities for one semester in selected subjects in material science and engineering under METE388-Materials Research I and METE488-Materials Research II courses to improve their scientific research skills. The courses aim to improve the skills of making basic experiments, reviewing the related literature and writing reports.
IE497 and IE498 COURSES: IE497-System Design I and IE498-System Design II courses offered in Department of Industrial Engineering aims to provide and implement meaningful solution alternatives based on scientific and engineering knowledge. Therefore, students learn how to synthesize and use the information they learn in undergraduate education.
AdımODTÜ
A joint project of Corporate Communications Office under the President’s Office and METU Development Foundation, AdımODTÜ (https://adimodtu.org.tr ) was established as a communication-sharing-action platform, where undergraduate, Master’s and PhD students, student communities and researchers can create their own projects for science, culture and sports activities with the support of AdımODTÜ team, and share them with METU members and METU enthusiasts living in more than 140 countries. As well as receiving financial support for their projects, the project owners can ask those interested to make a physical contribution to their project. The newsletters about projects and other AdımODTÜ activities are shared with supporters and those interested in projects.
https://adimodtu.org.tr/
AdımODTÜ Undergraduate Research Project
AdımODTÜ created an “Undergraduate Research Project” fund to support research activities carried out by undergraduate students. The project proposal abstracts were collected from students through the budget created with the contributions of AdımODTÜ donors. Almost 100 project proposal submissions consisting of research projects developed individually or in groups by students were received and considered based on various criteria (such as whether they are academic advisors, the project budget is elaborated or not, etc.). In the second stage, project owners were invited to make an oral presentation and the projects deemed eligible for funding based on the assessments of the jury were announced on AdımODTÜ’s website. The supported project owners are expected to make a presentation about the progress of their project in six-month intervals and write a final report at the end of the project. Moreover, it is aimed to share the undergraduate projects supported by “AdımODTÜ Undergraduate Research Day” planned to be held at the end of each year with METU students, faculty members and other interested parties, and to present awards to the selected projects.
https://adimodtu.org.tr/proje/lisans-arastirmalari-projesi
