Undergraduate Research, Inquiry and Scholarly Engagement (URISE) Program

The URISE Program serves as a resource for all undergraduate students to engage fully in their Regis experience through research and creative pursuits. The program oversees a wide range of initiatives from STEM summer camps for middle school girls to undergraduate student travel to scholarly conferences. This Regis Gives Day, we’re soliciting support for two funds that will benefit student researchers at different stages of their development.

Our R.E.G.I.S. (Rangers Empowering Girls in STEM) Research Camp introduces rising 6th-8th grade girls and gender-expansive youth from the Denver metro area to biology, chemistry, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, and more over the course of one week each summer. Camp is led by a team of dedicated female STEM faculty and undergraduate student
counselors. We utilize an inquiry-based curriculum that challenges campers to see themselves as scientists through hypothesis development and testing. All of our activities are centered around confidence building, self-advocacy, and STEM identity with the goal that our campers leave feeling empowered and with an increased sense of belonging in STEM. Girls drop out of the STEM pipeline at a higher rate than boys and the literature suggests that access to female
mentors and role models critical to keeping them engaged.

Girls need to be able to “see their future” by interacting with successful women in STEM to realize that there is a place for them. We never want cost to be a barrier to attendance and your generous gift will help us welcome even more girls to camp by supporting need-based scholarships. We have set our fundraising goal at $7,000, which would allow us to offer full scholarships to 50% of our campers this year.

Even small donations go a long way:

• $10 custom camp t-shirt
• $55 lunch in the dining hall & snacks for one camper all week
• $100 research supplies for one camper
• $350 full camp scholarship for one camper

Our undergraduate student travel fund supports travel to scholarly conferences. Students who have been engaging in mentored research or creative work with faculty members on campus greatly benefit from the opportunity to attend off-campus conferences to present their work and network with scholars in their field of interest. Conference attendance aids in their vocational discernment by providing opportunities for students to build their presentation skills, access professional development sessions, and interact with disciplinary peers. These experiences are transformational for students and are critical to their success as they graduate and enter the professional world. However, conference travel is expensive which creates a barrier to this type of experiential learning. Your generous donation will support sending Regis undergraduates to conferences in their field of interest. We’ve set our fundraising goal at $7,500 which would support 15 student travel awards.

Your support will provide the following for an undergraduate student scholar:

• $30 poster printing cost
• $50 one day of meals
• $90 shared lodging
• $150 conference registration fee
• $180 airfare
• $500 full travel award for one undergraduate student

Thank you in advance for supporting the URISE Program as we work to support student research at every level. Your generous donation will support high-impact learning experiences and directly impact the trajectory of young researchers as they begin to truly see themselves as scholars.