Are you an undergraduate student interested in gaining research experience in an academic setting that compliments your current studies?
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) are designed to stimulate interest in research in the areas of natural sciences and engineering in an effort to encourage students to partake in graduate studies and pursue a research career in these fields.
The minimum pay for the tenure of your award of 16 weeks is $7968.80 (assuming May 1, 2021 start date) based on the June 1, 2020 BC minimum wage increase from $13.85/hr to $14.60/hr. If the award is longer than 16 weeks, your pay should increase by a minimum of $511.00 for each additional week or $102.20 for each additional day.
Students do not need to be in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE) to work with an ECE professor. ECE students, in turn, may also hold an award in another department or university, if you find a faculty member who is interested in supervising you.
ECE Application Deadline for 2021 : Noon, Wednesday, March 9, 2021.
To be eligible to apply for an award, you must:
Be registered, as of the deadline date for applications at the university, in a bachelor's degree program at an eligible university.
Not have held a previous USRA in this fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), or more than 2 previous USRA awards in total
Be engaged on a full-time basis in research and development activities in the natural sciences or engineering during the tenure of the award
In addition:
The USRA research is a full-time activity. Students should not receive academic credits for the work done during the term of the USRA. Award holders may take a maximum of one course in addition to their USRA with the agreement of their supervisor. If the course is during normal working hours, special arrangements with the supervisor must be made for the student to make up the time spent on the course. In particular, USRA holders are not permitted to do thesis research during the term of the award. In addition, the USRA program makes no provision for sick leave or other interruptions of awards. Please inform the Liaison Officer immediately should a work term be interrupted or terminated early for any reason.
We will use the ticket you submitted to keep you appraised of the status of your application. If you have questions about your application status, please reply to the auto-response.
NSERC will NOT accept hardcopy forms so the official application must be completed and submitted electronically.
Read the program description in the Program Guide for Students and Fellows before you complete the application.