Six graduate programs in the Pitt School of Medicine sponsor SURP - an annual Summer Undergraduate Research Program. SURP participants engage in an intensive 10-week program designed to provide hands-on experience in biomedical research, together with guidance on how to plan for a research-related career. SURP will run from May - July.
Mission
Through SURP, aspiring biomedical scientists gain significant experience to help decide whether a life in research is “right” for them. SURP serves as a stepping-stone from undergraduate studies to advanced PhD training in the biological and biomedical sciences.
Goals and Structure
- To provide undergraduates with outstanding opportunities for research training in a diverse and inclusive university environment at a leading academic medical center.
- To engage highly motivated undergraduates by immersing them in cutting-edge, hypothesis-driven laboratory environments. Each SURP trainee works with a professor who shares similar research interests. In addition to conducting approximately 400 hours of laboratory research, trainees receive individualized mentoring and participate in weekly seminars and lab meetings.
- To train participants in valuable technical skills relevant to research in a multiplicity of biomedical disciplines from fundamental biological discovery to mechanisms of disease.
- To provide trainees with insight into the structure of graduate education and the steps leading to a successful career related to biomedical research.
- SURP includes three field trips that explore Pittsburgh, a most livable city, while also facilitating peer-to-peer collegial interactions.
- At the conclusion of SURP, all trainees write abstracts of their work and give short presentations on their projects at a final symposium.
SURP is administered through the Office of Graduate Studies in the Pitt School of Medicine. Our campus is situated in a friendly, safe urban environment located in the historic Oakland section of Pittsburgh. SURP mentors are amongst >200 training faculty in six PhD training programs.