University Honors & Undergraduate Research Program

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Eligibility Criteria:

• Students must be admitted to Texas A&M International University.
• Must have an Institutional GPA of 3.2 (TAMIU GPA) at the time of application.
• Must have at least three full-time long semesters of coursework left before graduation.
• Recipients of the First-Time Freshman Merit Scholarships or Transfer Merit Scholarships may apply without a TAMIU GPA.

Application Process

1. The student must complete an Application Form.
2. An Academic Background Check will be processed after the application submission.
3. Once the applicant is cleared, an e-mail will be sent to the applicant to set up a meeting with the department Honors Faculty Representative.
4. Honors Representative will grant admission.

Honor Levels

Upon acceptance into the Honors Programs, students will be placed in one of the three levels as determined by the Honors Committee:

• Level 1: Apprentice – Typically reserved for Freshman and Sophomore Honor Students. Potential activities include:
  • Pre-Research: Belmont Report/Completion of CITI Training, IRB process, writing conventions such as learning the applicable formatting and writing style (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.), expectations of research writing, editing, revision, etc.
  • Learning about Research: Choosing an appropriate research topic and foundations of research (design and methods, data collection, data analysis, etc.)
  • Conducting Prescribed Research: Formulating research questions and/or hypotheses, identifying acceptable literature, conducting library searches/writing literature reviews, etc.
• Level 2: Student Scholar – Typically reserved for Juniors or Seniors, especially transfer students who may be new to the UHURP. At this level, honor students learn to apply research skills to be mentored by faculty in the applicable discipline. Potential activities include:
  • Learning about Research: Continue refining and improving work from the apprentice level, write sections of the IRB protocol, attend research conferences, serve as a judge of science fairs, symposia, etc., develop specialized knowledge of specific research design and methods, data collection/analysis, etc.
  • Conducting Bounded and/or Scaffolded Research: Organize and synthesize previously collected data, use publicly available datasets to write short articles for peer review, begin to formulate a future independent project, etc.
• Level 3: Independent Researcher – Typically Junior or Senior Honor students who have shown extraordinary promise, time management, etc. At this level, honors students apply their knowledge and skills with greater autonomy or on an independent research project under the mentorship of a faculty member. Potential activities include:
  • Learning about Research: Choose methods to specialize in, learn about formulating a long-term research agenda, explore publication and presentation opportunities, etc.
  • Conducting Open-Ended and Unbounded Research: Write a complete IRB protocol, collect and analyze data for an independent project, present at state, regional, national, or international conferences, serve as a judge or peer-reviewer when possible, submit manuscripts for publication, etc.

Important Deadlines

Applications for the honors program will be accepted throughout the year; however, to be considered for scholarships, all applications MUST be received by the stated due date:

Honors Agreement

Each student is committed to completing the following terms:

1. Submit their Financial Aid application each Academic Year. (FAFSA, TASFA, Mexican Tuition Waiver).
2. Maintain an institutional GPA of 3.2 and each semester GPA of 3.2.
3. Be a full-time student (12 SCH) each semester.
4. Complete an approved research assignment/paper/project with your honors faculty mentor each semester or each year. (When applicable, follow all IRB protocols throughout the research process.)
5. Complete 30 hours of community services each academic year through TAMIU Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement.
6. Complete two (2) TAMIU Trailblazer learning dimensions.

TAMIU Graduate School Admission

Graduates of University Honors & Undergraduate Research will be automatically admitted to TAMIU Graduate School except those majoring in Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology (MACP) and the Family Nurse Practitioner Program (FNP).

Honors students must apply to a graduate program that aligns with their undergraduate degree.