Undergraduate Research Program

The Undergraduate Research Program (URP) will enhance your analytical skills and strengthen your ability to think critically and independently. Wilson Business faculty will assist you with topic creation and give you guidance throughout your research journey.

Students typically apply for the program in September, conduct their research during the academic year, and present their research to faculty and students at the UPR Seminar in April. Program participants are encouraged, though not required, to submit their research for publication and/or presentation at a conference. A copy of the finished work, along with its dissemination status, must be submitted to the department head at the conclusion of the project.

If you are selected for the program you will receive a $750 award. Modest funding is also available for research-related expenses, such as supplies and local travel. Should your research be presented at a conference, financial support can be available from the College of Business and/or UNI Intercollegiate Academic Fund (IAF). For more information on the IAF, go to https://www.uni.edu/vpaa/iaf. In most cases, URP participants are able to secure University funding to cover all of the expenses associated with travel to a conference to present their research.

Questions? Contact Elena Dodge, Assessment and Projects Specialist and URP coordinator.

Guidelines for URP Awards

Students who are in good academic standing, are majoring in business and have arranged for a faculty member to supervise the research project, may apply for a URP Award.

You must provide the following information on your URP Award Application:

A brief description of the proposed research project;
An itemized budget specifying the anticipated funding needs, if any;
A project schedule/timeline listing the dates when various stages of the project are expected to be completed;
A summary plan for how the results of the project will be disseminated;
Your supervising faculty member's, and department head's signatures.

If your project involves human subjects (e.g., questionnaires, surveys, interviews), you must complete training in protection of human research participants and then submit a Human Participants Review Form to the UNI Institutional Review Board. You can find information on human subjects research training at https://rsp.uni.edu/IRB-training. The form and additional information on the review process are available at https://www.uni.edu/osp/research-compliance. You should allow for a minimum of three weeks for your project review and approval.

Former URP Projects

2020 - 2021 URP Research Projects
URP Recipient:	Laura Kaufmann
Recipient's Major:	Accounting
Supervising Faculty Member:	Joseph Ugrin
Title of Research:	“Examination of the Attribution of Blame in Accounting Certifications”
Dissemination:	Laura’s research was published on Rod Library’s Scholarworks page and is expected to be submitted for presentation at the American Accounting Association Annual Conference.

2019 - 2020 URP Research Projects
URP Recipient:	Brandon Rowe
Recipient's Major:	Finance
Supervising Faculty Member:	Ronnie Chen
Title of Research:	"Investor Attention and Stock Returns: The Lead-Lag Effect"
Dissemination:	Brandon’s research was accepted for presentation at Lawrence M. Jepson Undergraduate Conference on International Economics at UNI. Cedar Falls, IA, in April, 2020

2018 - 2019 URP Research Projects
URP Recipient:	Adam Schmidt
Recipient's Major:	Finance
Supervising Faculty Member:	Ronnie Chen
Title of Research:	“Investor Attention and the January Effect”
URP Recipient:	Guadalupe Lopez and Laura Lopez
Recipient's Major:	Marketing
Supervising Faculty Member:	Chris Schrage and Matthew Bunker
Title of Research:	“Mitigating International Payment Risk”
Dissemination:	Guadalupe and Laura presented their research at the 32d Annual Conference of the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE) in Savannah, GA, in April, 2019