Undergraduate Research
The Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP), housed in the Pavlis Honors College, is an opportunity for undergraduate students to dedicate part of their semester to research within a field or project of interest to them. Award recipients conduct a research project under the guidance of a Michigan Tech faculty mentor during the regular academic year; toward the end of the year, they present either at a conference in their field or at the Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Sympsium. The Portage Health Foundation sponsors URIP recipients who investigate questions in health-related fields (including social determinants of health) such as biological sciences, biomedical engineering, psychology, kinesiology, and social sciences.
Allowing students to take their classroom knowledge and transition it into solving real-world problems at the cutting edge of our knowledge is an incredibly empowering experience. The Pavlis Honors College wants to help eliminate the financial burden associated with getting students involved in research, which is why we are happy to offer several types of funding support for undergraduate research. Through generous support from our donors, and match from PHC, a relatively small amount of funding can open the doors to a life-changing research experience for dozens of MTU undergraduates."
-Rob Handler, SURF and URIP Program Coordinator
Graduate Assistantships
Graduate Assistantships provide one semester of support to PhD candidates who demonstrate outstanding talent in health-oriented research areas. Applicants are expected to be catalysts for promoting and improving the overall health of Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, and Ontonagon communities through one of the following:
- health research and technology development
- health education or preventive and wellness initiatives
- rural healthcare access, informatics, and assessment of care
Read more about past recipients of the PHF Graduate Assistantships on the Graduate School news blog.
I am extremely grateful to the Portage Health Foundation (PHF) for acknowledging my work with patient-physician communication by awarding me the graduate assistantship for Summer 2022. [...] With this assistantship, I believe I will make good contributions to the health research for the community by developing resources for expecting mothers based on my research so that they may build a rapport with their providers.
-Lamia Alam, 2022 assistantship recipient
Additional Research Support
The Portage Health Foundation has also supported research and health advancement in other areas of campus. For example, in 2021, two Research Excellence Fund awards were made with support of PHF. They also supported on-campus testing capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic.