Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott's Undergraduate Research Institute

Undergraduate Research Institute (URI) promotes research, scholarly and creative activities at the undergraduate level. By enhancing critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills, URI helps to prepare Embry-Riddle students to contribute as productive individuals, employees and citizens. We facilitate interactions with industry and community partners as students build their professional network. URI is university-wide and invites students and faculty from all disciplines to participate.

Why participate in URI?

  • Gain hands-on research experience
  • Participate in national competitions
  • Strengthen your resume
  • Network with industry leaders, faculty and students

Participation in URI includes

  • One-on-one work with faculty mentors
  • Workshops in Ethics & Professionalism, Presentations, Scholarships and Fellowships
  • Share your findings at the ERAU Undergraduate Symposium, ERAU Discovery Day, ERAU outreach events and external conferences

Prescott Campus URI Discovery 2023

URI Discovery is our celebration of undergraduate research and scholarship, and is linked to our Preview Day events. From aviation to engineering, security and intelligence to physics and astronomy, our URI Discovery poster and oral sessions offer a wealth of knowledge and discovery for everyone.

To see Discovery Day posters from previous years, visit the Virtual Discovery Day index.

URI

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URI Funding

The URI provides more than $100,000 annually in funding for student research and development, scholarly and creative, and competition-based grants. Our Eagle Prize or E-Prize Grants fund teams of students to develop material and attend regional, national or international competitions and for the implementation of new competitions.

Our Ignite Grants fund individual or teams of students to conduct research, scholarly, or creative projects with a focus towards presenting their work at professional conferences and publishing in scholarly and industry journals.

We also provide small Travel Grants for students to present their work at conferences.  We have both academic term and summer term funding cycles.  We have a team of dedicated faculty and staff mentors committed to assisting students with their projects. 

Student Blogs

Student blog from Sophomore Aerospace Engineer student Cooper Eastwood

Aiming for Space with a Fully Reusable Rocket

Sophomore Aerospace Engineer student Cooper Eastwood guides us through the process of researching, designing, and planning the launch for a fully reusable rocket.


Student Blog: A View From Above

A Flight Lead Student Advisor's View From Above

Student Martin Kurkchubasche discusses his research with URI running a virtual reality lab in the Flight Department's Simulation Center to reduce the cost of flight training and hopefully play a part in reducing the global pilot shortage. 


Maelee DevriesThe Trace Evidence Analysis of Makeup

Senior Forensic Biology major MaeLee DeVries writes about her research to support and develop a method for easily distinguishing the morphological and chemical features of various lipsticks and eyeshadow palette samples.

Contact Us

Dr. Anne Boettcher
Assistant Dean of Research
Kelly Brown
Office Assistant, Career and Professional Development

Featured Story

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Embry-Riddle Students Construct and Hot Fire Liquid Rocket Engine

Seven Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University engineering students have successfully fired the Prescott campus’ first liquid rocket engine inside a brand new test facility as part of their senior capstone project.

Undergraduate Student Helps New Biological Research Method in AZ Waters

Undergraduate Helps Prove the Effectiveness of New Biological Research Method

Student Courtney Turner-Rathbone has tested field research methods that demonstrate a cheaper, more efficient and less invasive way of identifying and assessing wildlife communities.