History

The SJSU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program officially launched campus-wide in fall 2021; though its early foundations trace back to 2017. At the time, Jahmal Williams, current Director of DEI Partnerships and University-Community Liaison and SJSU UROP founder and co-creator, was working at Peer Connections on campus, and had a vision toward developing a program where our students could gain exposure to some of the similar life-changing experiences that he had engaging in research as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. Initially coined Explorations in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (ERSCA), he, along with a few other campus partners, developed a pilot program similar to the “Michigan model” where first and second-year students on campus cultivated research partnerships with SJSU faculty to work with them on their existing research projects. ERSCA’s inaugural cohort comprised seven students and was housed in Peer Connections. 

When Williams moved to the Black Leadership Opportunity Center in 2018 (BLOC; then referred to as the African-American Black Student Success Center), he sought to increase the impact of ERSCA to engage a broader range of campus and community stakeholders. In fall of 2019, Williams brought on Dr. Andrew Carter, assistant professor in the Department of Public Health and Recreation, to help capacity build and institutionalize the program across campus. Williams and Carter’s shared interest in racial justice and student equity served as a central organizing principle in how they developed the program. Over the next two years, Williams and Carter engaged in strategizing and community building efforts with program stakeholders, including the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Lurie College of Education, Peer Connections, the University of Michigan, and California State University Long Beach’s (SJSU UROP’s sister program) UROP executive leadership team. 

During the 2021-22 academic year, UROP welcomed its inaugural cohort, constituting 13 students and 12 faculty mentors from non-STEM disciplines on campus. In its first year, UROP’s curriculum was co-taught with other Department of Educational Leadership (EDLD) faculty in pre-existing courses that had similar foci and course content. In 2022, UROP’s 4-unit, standalone curriculum (EDLD 10 & 11) was approved by the University, and counts as elective units towards student graduation. 

Each year, UROP has grown in enrollment and faculty participation. During the 2023-24 academic year, the program received a record number of faculty project submissions (82), with representation from every college on campus, and fostered 31 faculty-student research partnerships. UROP is currently in the process of expanding its scope to incorporate various discipline-specific and themed cohorts, including community and college-based cohorts, BIPOC women in STEM, and a summer fellows program.