Research opportunities for undergraduate students

There are two programs that sponsor a limited number research opportunities for CMS students: NSERC USRA (Undergraduate Student Research Awards), and UTEA (University of Toronto Excellance Awards).

Basic information

Each award by either program involves full-time work on a research project under the supervision of a faculty member for a period of sixteen consecutive weeks (usually May 1 through August 31, though the actual dates are open to negotiation with the research supervisor). The value of the award is $5,625 (minimum) for the sixteen-week period.

NSERC USRAs are open only to students who are citizens of permanent residents of Canada. For more information, including detailed eligibility criteria, click here. CMS has an allocation of up to four NSERC USRAs for 2012.

UTEAs are open to all U of T undergraduate students, regardless of citizenship or residence status. A number of such awards is allocated to UTSC and applicants are selected on a competitive basis.

How to apply

Listed below are the projects for which CMS faculty are seeking qualified undergraduates.

Ryan Johnson: One tree to rule them all: A cache-friendly index for long and variable-length keys
Nick Koudas: Web Information Systems
Ryan Johnson: Does exception handling beat return codes in database engines?

If you meet the eligibility criteria for one or more projects of interest to you, contact the relevant project supervisors as soon as possible.

Each project supervisor will select the candidate(s) best suited for his or her project. You can be selected for at most one project. If you are selected for a project, you must submit a complete application package (see below) to Miranda Tang (mtang@utsc.utoronto.ca, 416-287-7200, IC-449) by February 24, 2012.

A departmental committee will rank the submitted applications and will select for funding the highest-ranked applications up to the number of awards allocated to the department. Awards will be announced by the end of March 2012.

Application package

Hard copy of completed NSERC Form 202 Parts 1 and 2. These must be completed on-line (Part 1 by you and Part 2 by the project supervisor); handwritten copies are not admissible. (Note: This form is needed whether you are applying for an NSERC USRA or a UTEA.)
To complete NSERC Form 202 you must first register in NSERC's on-line system.
Copy of your current U of T transcript.
Completed RIS form signed by you and the supervisor