DMSE UROP - Bureaucratic Procedures

• When you locate a supervisor and a project (see the the DMSE UROP page for some hints on doing this), work with the supervisor is developing a one-page UROP Proposal & Letter of Intent for the project.

• If you have not passed the DMSE Safety Quiz, you must do so before any laboratory UROP project can be established.

• Have the supervisor give you the safety briefing for the laboratory you'll be working in, and sign the briefing form (the supervisor signs, too). If you won't be in an experimental laboratory, obtain a memo from the supervisor attesting to this. You cannot begin your UROP until the DMSE safety requirements are fulfilled.

• Fill out the UROP Proposal & Letter of Intent Cover Sheet available in the UROP office (Room 20B-140/ Tel: 253-7306/ email: urop@mit), and have your supervisor sign it. You sign it, too.

• Bring the cover sheet, the proposal itself, and the safety briefing form to Ms. Nancy Herron in DMSE Headquarters (room 8-309). She will insure that the form and proposal are complete and that the safety requirements have been met. The form will then be signed by Prof. Roylance and either returned to you or mailed to the UROP Office, as you prefer.

• Submit the signed cover sheet and the proposal to the UROP office.

• If you'll be working for pay, Nancy Herron in Department Headquarters (8-309) can initiate the paperwork to put you on the payroll.

• If you'll be working for academic credit, several additional steps are involved:
  • Fill out an Add/Drop form to add the appropriate number of units for 3UR (pass/fail) or 3URG (grades). Both the UROP Coordinator and your academic advisor must sign this form.

  • An important issue regarding units: The Department is not at all cavalier about handing out academic credit. If you're planning on more than about 6 units of 3UR or 3URG, the Department will insist that you document both the hours worked and their academic merit. Cleaning up the laboratory or familiarizing yourself with software packages, for instance, won't pass muster. And twelve units is comparable to an SB thesis, so the documentation would need to be a thesis-quality package.

  • Obviously, you shouldn't plan on using UROP to pick up quick units; it's a lot easier just to take a class. But if you really do want a high-unit UROP, and we don't discourage that, we'll ask you to write a proposal to the Department Undergraduate Committee explaining how your project warrants academic credit, and how you plan to document it.