Undergraduate Research

Applying for Scholarships & Awards

ECE encourages undergraduates to gain hands-on experience in our cutting-edge laboratories.

Depending upon interests and abilities, undergraduates can contribute in many ways, including design, measuring, construction, animation, and programming.

How to find research opportunities

Sometimes opportunities are advertised in the relevant classes or posted on the student listserv.
Most opportunities arise when an interested student approaches a professor with strong interest and proven ability.
Students may also propose an independent research project, which they develop in consultation with their advisor.

Undergraduate Research Examples

Hume Center Intelligence Community Scholars Program

The Hume Center offers scholarships for undergraduates interested in pursuing careers in intelligence, defense, or national security.

IT Security Lab

Undergraduates at the Information Technology Security Lab assist faculty with cybersecurity and privacy research and have the option to develop their own independent study projects.

The Virginia Tech SuperDARN radar group conducts research on Earth's space environment using a network of over 25 radars. Students are involved with all aspects of research, including hardware design, operations, and data analysis.

Center for Embedded Systems for Critical Applications (CESCA)

Undergraduates at CESCA are conducting research in many areas of embedded systems, including microcontroller cryptography and concurrent software testing and verification.

Wireless@VT Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

Each summer, students participate in a 10-week research and education program studying cognitive communications in the Wireless@VT labs.