AURA-Texas Applications

The Office of Undergraduate Research invites all undergraduate researchers across campus to apply for opportunities to gain presentation skills and experiences, and share their work and research experiences with others students. Undergraduates of all majors are encouraged to apply. You can find the application here.

The Academy of Undergraduate Researchers Across Texas is a collaboration between UT’s Office of Undergraduate Research and the LAUNCH office at Texas A&M University. AURA-Texas gives exceptional student researchers the chance to network with counterparts at another institution, attend professional development workshops, and showcase the ways in which their research serves the state of Texas. AURA-Texas students help represent the strength of Texas undergraduate research and its impact on communities of all sizes across the world.

Students are chosen for the AURA-Texas program based on the impact of their research as well as their ability to communicate their work to a general audience. In communicating their projects to new audiences (at internal research events at both A&M and UT, and at external outreach events), students are pushed to consider their work from new points of view as they advocate for the role of students in the research mission of the university.

Each year the Office of Undergraduate Research seeks passionate undergraduates to serve as Student Research Ambassadors — the public face of student research at events for internal and external audiences, where they share their stories of becoming researchers whose experiences combine the teaching and research missions of the university. Students in this program develop their ability to share their research narrative with a general audience.

Ambassadors will be expected to attend a workshop on research narratives in the fall, and to represent student research at the following events:

  • Family Weekend
  • Explore UT
  • One workshop or event related to the Texas Student Research Showdown
  • At least one Research Week activity
  • At least six OUR info sessions or workshops for current students

Other outreach and profiling opportunities include:

  • Tabling
  • FIG visits
  • Social media takeovers
  • A profile of you and your research

In the application, we encourage everyone to choose as many opportunities as they would like and/or have the time to participate in with OUR. While some require more time commitment than others, all are wonderful opportunities to share your research with other undergraduates and gain valuable communication skills and connections with other researchers.