The College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) is a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in hands-on research with a faculty mentor while using critical thinking, collaborative, and entrepreneurial skills. SURP is an 8-week long program (can be non-contiguous), and students are expected to spend around 20 hours/week working on their research projects and additional time preparing and presenting their poster for the annual SURP symposium; SURP students and their faculty mentor will agree upon a start date (can be on or after June 23rd ), timeline, and mode (in-person, hybrid, remote) for their research project. The goals of SURP are to:
- Help Cal Poly undergraduate students develop professionally and enhance their portfolios for future employment.
- Give opportunities for CENG faculty to advance their research/project agendas over the summer
- Build lasting student-faculty mentoring relationships
- Provide opportunities for industrial and other external sponsors to work with Cal Poly faculty and students to advance connections, gain access to Cal Poly talent and capabilities, and engage in valuable collaborative activities.
Our Summer 2025 CENG SURP will support 80 projects and each project will select 1-2 students depending on funding availability. You can apply to up to 5 projects on MustangJobs (each project has its own job posting). You need not be in the same department as the faculty advisor to apply to a given project. Each SURP student participant will either receive a fixed CENG Summer Research stipend of $3,500 or a paid by the hour position. Preference will be given to College of Engineering students and students who have not yet participated in SURP. Furthermore, a slight preference will be given to students who are currently in their first or second year at Cal Poly (or in their first year as a transfer student). CENG will also be offering a few housing stipends of $2000 each to selected SURP students who have high financial need (as determined by the Financial Aid office).
Qualifications:
- Have at least a 2.5 higher ed cumulative GPA.
- Be registered for classes for Fall 2025 with undergraduate standing (masters students and students in the blended program who will have graduate standing by Fall 2025 are not eligible for this undergraduate program). Lower division students (those who have completed their 1st or 2nd year at Cal Poly) and transfer students who just completed their 1st year at Cal Poly are especially encouraged to apply.
- Be available to work 20 hrs/week, over 8-weeks over Summer 2025.
- Be eager to learn, capable of self-direction, and willing to solve open-ended problems where the answer is not in the back of the book!
Applications open Friday, April 18 on Mustang Jobs and are due Friday, May 2 by 11:59 p.m. Selected students will be notified by May 16.
For more information, visit ceng.calpoly.edu/surp. You will be able to see all the project abstracts by clicking on the green ‘2025 SURP abstracts’ button. You can also attend our joint InfoSession:
‘Making the Most of Your Summer’ Info Session (discusses SURP and other summer options): April 23 from 3:10 to 4 p.m. in the MEP Study Room (40-110) or on Zoom.
