Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE)

SURE Program Overview

The Rural & Underserved Utah Training Experience (RUUTE) & Regional Affairs Program has worked to develop a 10-week research experience for undergraduate students.

The emphasis of this program is to provide research opportunities for students from rural and underserved areas throughout Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana for students to work on projects emphasizing rural and underserved health.

For more information contact kacey.madsen@hsc.utah.edu

Applications are now closed for Summer of '25. For more information on applications of Summer of '26 please email us.

Applications for Summer '25 Are Now Closed

SURE Program Overview Video

Informational Video

Program Details

Student Eligibility

In order to apply to the program, applicants must meet the following criteria:

Be a current matriculated, degree-seeking undergraduate student from a college/university in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming or Montana.
Must have completed at least 36 college credits. Concurrent enrollment credits achieved while still in high school don't count towards this requirement.
Applicants do not need to be attending the University of Utah. Students attending higher education institutions throughout the state of Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are welcome and encouraged to apply!
Able to commit approximately 40 hours per week of work on a research project with your mentor.
Preferred: Students who have a passion for rural or underserved medicine or are from rural or underserved communities, and who plan on pursuing a career in healthcare.

Program Requirements

Time commitment: This is a full-time program. Selected applicants are expected to work approximately 40 hours per week on research and program-related activities for the entirety of the program. Specific details regarding project work with be negotiated with the student and faculty member.
Mentor Meetings: Students will set up reoccurring meetings with their faculty mentor to ensure project activities and work are met.
Final Presentations: Students are required to develop and present their work in a poster format to the RUUTE & Regional Affairs Program. This may also include participation in a Summer Research Symposium with other summer research programs.
Final Report: Students are required to fill out all RUUTE surveys regarding their experience. Further reporting may also be developed to capture student experiences.

Application Details

Contact information
Academic information, including college transcript
Your current resume or CV
Your academic transcript
Personal statement of why you would like to participate in this program and why you would be a good fit.
Letter of Recommendation (preferably written by faculty member(s) who can attest to your suitability for research, motivation, professionalism, and classroom performance). There will be a link housed within the application to send your letter writer(s) to upload their letter of recommendation.
A list of eligible projects you could potentially work on will be listed in the application.

Compensation

Students selected into the program will receive a stipend over the course of the program. This stipend will be used for student expenses and living accommodations, and will not be a tuition scholarship. Students will also be able to highlight this on their Resume or CV.

Travel and Housing

Participants relocating to Salt Lake City for this program may be eligible to receive a travel stipend for travel-related expenses.

2024 SURE Students & Projects

Dylan Bistline

Mentor: Dr. Jared Rutter

Project: Direct metabolic regulation of RNA function in human cells.

Nicholas Marchionda

Mentor: Dr. Alber Park

Project: Cochlear blood vascular degeneration from cytomegalovirus infection

Callum Olmer

Mentor: Dr. John Davis Symons

Project: Elucidate the mechanisms responsible for vascular complications associated with inactivity, obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes.

Ashton Gardner

Mentor: Dr. Benjamin Brooke

Project: Innovative models for care coordination to improve outcomes for high-risk surgical patients during transitions of care

Brooklyn Torrie

Mentor: Dr. Adam Bress

Project: Focus on disparities in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease with a focus on hypertension and antihypertensive medication use. Using pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacogenetics, we try to better understand causes of racial differences in medication responses and outcomes. We apply these findings to understand the population-level impact, generalizability, and cost-effectiveness in diverse groups.

Elise Ihnen

Mentor: Dr. Sihem Boudina

Project: Understanding the basic regulation of adipose stem cell function and to identify factors that can be used to reprogram these cells into energetically more active cells for the treatment of obesity.

Bridger Bodily

Mentor: Dr. Sarah Franklin

Project: Novel chromatin binding proteins differentially regulated in hypertrophy and heart failure

Jeremiah Tolento

Mentor: Dr. Dipayan Chaudhuri

Project: Changes in metabolism during heart failure

Garrett Lewis

Mentor: Dr. Derek Dosdall

Project: Quantitative approaches to the study of cardiac arrhythmias

Arlene Majers

Mentor: Dr. My Helms

Project: Evaluating the role of epithelial sodium channels in the innate immune response.

Leah Moellmer

Mentor: Dr. Martin Tristani-Firouzi

Project: Molecular and cellular basis of inherited arrhythmias and congenital heart disease

Katherine Judge

Mentor: Stavros Drakos

Project: Advancement of the field of recovery from heart failure with a specific focus upon characterizing the clinical, metabolic, and molecular profile of the failing versus recovered human heart in order to understand, predict and manipulate cardiac recovery.

2023 SURE Students & Projects

2023 Students

Benjamin Seamons

Mentor: Dr. Derek Dosdall

Project: Results of Increased Surface Area on Impedance in Multi-Contact Cardiac Pacing Electrodes

Creston Betridge

Mentor: Dr. Ganesh Adluru

Project: Radiology Research T1 Segmentation and Analysis using MatLab and CVI 4

Dillon Stevens

Mentor: Dr. Jared Rutter

Project: Biochemistry - Exploring COX7B as a Human Riboswitch

Maya Roland

Mentor: Dr. Sarah Franklin

Project: Heart Disease - Investigating the Role of skNAC in Cultured Cardiomyocytes

Colton Gardner

Mentor: Dr. John David Symons

Project: Nutrition & Integrative Psychology; The Impact of Inducible Depletion of p62/SQSTM1 from Endothelial Cells on Mesenteric and Cerebral Artery Reactivity in Mice