Student Research Opportunities

Learning Through Experience

At SIU, we engage students early in their college career to participate in meaningful, practical experiences that enrich learning; to prepare students for future work, life and world experiences.

Research co-operative education is a strong component of a student’s experience and offers undergraduate, master's and doctoral students the chance to work side-by-side with leading research professors and professionals in all areas of research.

There are various types of Research and Community Co-ops that offer both research lab and research with faculty (non-laboratory) opportunities. Examples include

• working in a campus research laboratory, 
• helping a community organization, 
• conducting reviews of program-related scholarship, or 
• working on a business or marketing plan for a local start-up.

And the many benefits of co-op include facilitating the faculty-student interaction that is uniquely and richly supported at SIU, helping students learn new skills from hands-on experience that build on the knowledge acquired in the classroom, and providing an awareness of what takes place in a research lab that is working towards a product.

For our undergraduate juniors and seniors who usually round out their undergraduate experience with some of these types of opportunities, co-op helps students to explore their professional and higher education goals while making a valuable contribution in the workplace and community.

The university also has an exciting research opportunities and community initiatives - the Immersive Scholars Program (formerly known as Co-op Scholars) - that allows undergraduate freshman and sophomore students to participate in exciting paid experiential learning opportunities working directly with outstanding faculty across the campus and academic departments or with community partners.