Apply to the School of Public Policy Undergraduate Research Experience Program
Research opportunities will be posted here as they become available. The positions below are still open. Faculty are reviewing applications and will respond to inquiries on a rolling basis. While you may apply to more than one UREP position at a time, please only accept one research role within the School of Public Policy in a given semester to ensure opportunities for other students.
If you have your own idea for an independent study, ask your advisor for support in connecting with a sponsoring faculty member.
Research in Legal Studies - For Credit
Students may apply to do research in legal studies regardless of their major. The credits earned by completing public policy research will be LEGAL 398R.
Fall 2026 | Variable 1-3 credits (3 - 9 hours/week), depending on what the student is seeking
Position Description: Research assistants will help Professors Collins, Rice, and Rhodes collect information about depictions of law and legality in LGBTQ+ media, such as The Advocate. This will involve reading articles in LGBTQ+ media and coding the articles based on things like the types of rights featured in the articles (e.g., same sex marriage, employment), court decisions discussed in the articles, and the legal and political actors depicted in the articles. The objective of this research is to understand what legal issues are prominent on the agenda of LGBTQ+ media and how the legal consciousness of the LGBTQ+ community changes over time. Students must be available for weekly meetings that will be held in person on Tuesdays from 9:00AM-10:00AM throughout the semester.
What You Will Learn: Students will learn to conduct rigorous social science research, and learn about the history of legal disputes involving the LGBTQ+ community.
Prerequisites: Legal 101, PoliSci 101, or equivalent
How to Apply: Please send an email to Professor Collins ([email protected]) with a resume, expression of interest (including relevant skills), and the name of a faculty member reference. In addition, be sure to indicate that you are able to make the weekly meetings held on Tuesdays from 9:00-10:00 in your application.
Fall 2026 | Variable 1-3 credits (3 - 9 hours/week), depending on what the student is seeking
Position Description: Professor Collins and Rice are looking for a research assistant to help them with a project that investigates the ideological diversity of legal scholarship. The research assistant will conduct internet-based research on the backgrounds of the elite law review editors in an effort to understand the scholarship they select for publication. For example, one aspect of this project will explore whether law review editors were law clerks, were connected to the Federalist Society or the American Constitution Society, and the like. Students must be available for weekly meetings that will be held in person on Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30PM throughout the semester.
What You Will Learn: Students will learn to perform social science research, including applying rigorous coding protocols. Students will also learn about the ideological diversity of the legal academy.
Prerequisites: Legal 101, PoliSci 101, or equivalent
How to Apply: Please send an email to Professor Collins ([email protected]) with a resume, a statement of interest and qualifications, and the name of a faculty member reference. In addition, be sure to indicate that you are able to make the weekly meetings held on Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30PM in your application.
Research in Public Policy - For Credit
Students may apply to do research in public policy regardless of their major. The credits earned by completing public policy research will be PUBPOL 398R.
Spring 2026 | 2 credits (6 hours/week)
Position Description: This project analyzes what kinds of investors finance renewable energy power plants. There is still a ‘lack of finance’ and need to ‘mobilize’ finance in the renewables sector but lack of attention to what types of investors, are willing to finance these power plants and could scale their engagement muddies the debate. The project builds on a bespoke asset finance dataset through 2023 by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and augments it by correcting and detailing investor information. The project builds on a similar one that had data only through 2017 and it will improve and streamline the technique of gathering investor information. The job of the research assistant is to support with ensuring the data is accurate, for which she or he is to read ownership information and trace beneficial ownership and parent company information, and correct any errors in the original data are corrected.
What You Will Learn: The research assistant’s (RA) job will be to go through the investor data one by one and check and, if necessary, correct the investor information with instructions from Gregor how to do so. The RA will make a decision based on certain criteria and, in case of uncertainty, flag and discuss with Gregor. There will also be an opportunity to discuss how different types of investors may contribute to different types of capital projects being financed, setting ‘a direction’ for the economy. The RA will thus learn about financial ownership structures and investors in the renewable energy space, and how to read and evaluate information in ownership disclosures.
Prerequisites: An interest in financial ownership research and preferably previous *basic* experiences with R or another software that allows to write and execute code.
How to Apply: Email Prof. Gregor Semieniuk ([email protected]) a resume and a couple of sentences on why you are interested and meet the prerequisites.
Fall 2026 | 1 or 2 credits (3 or 6 hours/week)
Position Description: 1-2 ETA Lab Research Communications Leaders will work together to create the ETA Lab website using Square Space tools; generate fliers for research opportunities and events using Canva or other tools, and write press releases for internal UMass communications (The Collegian, UMass News, SPP social media, etc.). Using existing research articles, lab photos, activities and research in progress, the Communications Leaders will ensure that the website tells the story of the ETA Lab's mission, vision, efforts, and impact both in terms of research produced and in terms of student and alumni growth and experiences.
What You Will Learn: Students will learn how to create and improve public communications about research, constituent engagement, and goal-driven activities. Students will learn basic project management in consultation with a client. Students will learn/enhance basic web design skills. Students will build a communications portfolio that includes website work, written press releases, and fliers for student events.
Prerequisites: Interest in website design; interest in working in campaign, advocacy, or nonprofit communications/marketing/management; capacity to manage independent work and break down project goals into weekly tasks.
How to Apply: Please send a resume and brief cover letter to Professor Bridgette Davis ([email protected]).
Fall 2026 | 2 credits (6 hours/week)
Position Description: The Community4Impact (C4I) Lab, directed by Professor Viviana Wu in the Department of Public Policy, is recruiting two undergraduate research assistants to support research at the intersection of philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, and artificial intelligence. Each RA will work on Project 1 and have a leading role in Project 2 and 3, with opportunities to contribute across all three projects:
Project 1 — NSF grantmaking database: Supports the NSF-funded project building a longitudinal database of U.S. foundation grantmaking using large language models. Primary focus: validating AI-extracted data against source documents (e.g., 990 forms), organizing datasets, and maintaining a coding documentation/codebook.
Project 2 — Global philanthropic leadership: Supports comparative research on foundation and nonprofit leadership across different political and civic contexts (including Taiwan and Hong Kong). Primary focus: landscape/background research on regional foundation sectors, literature review support, and bibliography.
Project 3 — AI in the nonprofit sector: Supports research on how nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are adopting, governing, and being reshaped by AI. Primary focus: literature scans, tracking emerging case studies and reporting, and synthesizing findings into briefs.
What You Will Learn:
Students will:
- Learn AI-assisted research methods, including using LLMs to extract and structure data, and critically evaluating that output against primary sources
- Build literature review and research documentation skills (codebooks, methods notes, synthesis briefs)
- Gain familiarity with the nonprofit/foundation sector's data landscape and comparative, cross-national research design
- Experience the full research lifecycle — from design through data collection, peer review, and dissemination
Prerequisites: No specific coursework is required, though prior experience with data organization, research methods, or an interest in nonprofit/public policy/AI governance topics is a plus. Comfort with (or willingness to learn) tools like spreadsheets and basic reference management (e.g., Zotero, Concensus, Elicit, etc.) software is helpful. *Strong attention to detail, communication skills, work ethics, and reliability* are essential, given the data validation components of this work.
Open to junior students; a minimum one-year commitment is preferred given onboarding time and project continuity needs. Expected commitment: 6 hours/week per RA.
How to Apply: Interested students should email Professor Wu with a cover letter, resume, and unofficial transcript, which you can get for free in SPIRE. The cover letter should briefly describe relevant experience or coursework and indicate which project area(s) (NSF grantmaking database and global philanthropic leadership, or AI in the nonprofit sector) most interest you, and how you can contribute to other projects.
Research in Additional Areas
PROPEL is a resource for students to apply to open projects during 5 rounds over the academic year. This is the link to the projects that are open https://propel.umass.edu/projects. PROPEL will be open for undergraduates to apply on November 7 AT 1:00PM and ending on November 17 at 5am. Students can apply to up to 5 projects. Students need to log in to set up an account and then write a short profile about themselves. When they apply to a particular project, students will write maybe a couple of paragraphs on why they are interested in the project.
The Office of Undergraduate Research and Studies (OURS) is a branch of the Learning Resource Center and serves as the centralized research and resource office for the campus. OURS helps students find and access undergraduate research and scholarly opportunities on and off campus, throughout the year. We serve students in all disciplines at every stage of their undergraduate careers. Students are also supported in preparing for and navigating the application process for research and scholarly opportunities. Learn more here.
Before Applying...
Have you had your resume and cover letter reviewed by SBS Pathways? During the semester, there are walk-in hours with Peer Advisors in Thompson 128 (M, T, W 10-4 and Th, F 10 - 2) to get you started.
Frequently Asked Questions
By participating in a UREP students work collaboratively with faculty to develop studies with real‐world significance and to carry them out with practical, readily transferable skills that will provide them with a crucial edge in the job market. Students who gain sophisticated research skills will be highly sought after by potential employers: they will understand how to conduct research; how to choose and use the appropriate qualitative or quantitative methods to carry out studies; how to work collaboratively towards a common goal; and how to write effectively in order to convey their findings to the public. These students will be able to not only tell potential employers about the classes they took, but clearly indicate on their resumes and in their interviews the deliverables that they helped produce. Furthermore, these students will gain critical information about substantive public policy and legal topics that will offer them an advantage in competing for internships and jobs in public policy or the civil service.
Student researchers are encouraged to present the research conducted through the UREP at conferences like the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference. They receive opportunities to co-author reports, and they are able to incorporate the skills and methodology learned through the program into their capstone or thesis projects. Most importantly, the UREP is a unique opportunity which students can include on their resumes as they apply for graduate school or enter the workforce.
The topics and projects that have already been advanced through the UREP reflect the breadth of faculty expertise in the School of Public Policy. In past semesters, for instance, the students have been trained to construct and manage public opinion surveys and analyze data through the UMass Poll; to draft in-depth literature reviews about sanitation reform in India; to conduct archival research on the death penalty; and to compile and analyze a database of the ratification of international environmental treaties – just to name a few projects!
The UREP projects are compensated through academic credit, not a paycheck. Students selected to participate in UREP will be enrolled in PUBPOL or LEGAL 398R - Research Practicum. Students may take up to 18 practicum credits while at UMass. Those credits may count toward the total needed for graduation.
For Legal Studies majors, the research credits do not count toward major requirements.
For Public Policy majors, a maximum of 4 credits of applied coursework - research credits and/or internship credits - may count toward major requirements.
In general, 1 credit hour is equivalent to about 40 hours of work (3 hours per week) during the semester and students may enroll for up to 4 credits per semester.