Social Ecology Excellence in Research Distinction

At the end of the program, all students fulfilling the program requirements will receive the Social Ecology Excellence in Research Award. Each year, the best graduating student in the program will be selected by a committee of faculty mentors and will be awarded $500.

Overview of Requirements for Social Ecology Excellence in Research Program

• The program is open to all majors in the School of Social Ecology
• Successful completion of the Social Ecology Honors Program
  • Applications to the SE Honors Program are due in the Spring quarter of the junior year.
  • Requirements for an application to the SE Honors Program are:
    • 3.2 UC GPA and 3.5 GPA in upper-division  courses (with a minimum of four such courses) at the end of the Winter quarter of the junior year.
    • Submission of a brief research proposal.
    • A letter of support from a faculty member who agrees to serve as your Honors Program mentor.
    • Commitment to enroll in all three courses of the Honors Program sequence in senior year: H190A, H190B, and H190W
    • Unofficial UCI Transcript
  • Completion of a faculty supervised research project during three quarters of your senior year. A research paper and a UROP conference presentation must be completed by the end of the senior year.
  • Go to the SOCIAL ECOLOGY HONORS PROGRAM WEBSITE for more detailed information.
• Completion of SE10: Research Design (or the equivalent) by the Fall quarter of your junior year, SE13: Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology (or the equivalent) by the end of your junior year, SE111W: Advanced Research Methods by the end of your junior year; and SE190: Applied Statistics in Research (by end of  the senior year), all with a grade of a "B" or higher.
• Participation in mentored research during at least one quarter of your junior year.

Course Requirements

Participating students take a set of advanced courses in methodology and statistics (SE10, SE13, SE111W, SE190), in addition to the SE Honors Program Sequence (H190ABW). All courses must be completed with a grade of "B" or better. Because SE10 is a prerequisite for SE111W and SE13 is a prerequisite for SE190, it is critical that SE10 and SE13 be taken as early as possible (i.e., in the freshman or sophomore year, or for transfer students in the fall and winter quarter of the junior year). SE111W should be completed by the end of your junior year and SE190 should be completed by the end of your Senior year.

• SE10: Research Design (or equivalent), course is prerequisite for SE111W
• SE13: Statistical Analysis in Social Ecology (or equivalent), course is prerequisite for SE190
• SE111W: Advanced Research Methods (offered twice per year)
• SE190: Applied Statistics in Research (offered twice per year)

Research

Participating students will gain extensive research experience by participating in mentored research. In their junior year, students will establish a mentoring relationship with a Social Ecology faculty mentor. In the senior year, students are required to conduct an independent research project under the supervision of their faculty mentor. By the end of the senior year, students need to prepare a senior research thesis, which can be a paper or a presentation at a scientific conference (e.g., oral or poster presentation at the UCI Undergraduate Research Symposium held each May).

Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior Year

• Find a faculty mentor
• Become involved in faculty directed research while enrolled in at least 1 P196 (PSB Research Seminar), or SE198 (Directed Study) or SE199 (Independent Study) with their faculty mentor.

Senior Year

• Perform mentored research while enrolled in the School of Social Ecology's honors seminar sequence (H190ABW)
• Submit a senior research thesis or a report at a scientific conference

Award Procedure

All students fulfilling the formal requirements will be awarded the certificate for "Social Ecology Excellence in Research". The best student will be selected by a faculty committee based on their overall performance in the program and the senior research project and will receive a special recognition in the form of a $500 stipend. This additional honor will be noted on the Social Ecology Excellence in Research award certificate.

For further information please contact Yvonne Vo (ytvo@uci.edu)