SURE Program Overview
The Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) is a free nine-week program that provides multidisciplinary, supplemental infrastructure to undergraduate students conducting research or creative work at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa during the summer.
SURE provides participants with a cohort of undergraduate peers; nine weeks of programming, including professional development modules and the SURE Symposium, a professional, end-of-summer presentation venue.
Note that SURE does NOT provide undergraduate students with research or creative work projects or positions, mentors, or funding and housing.
How does registration for the SURE Program work?
Sign Up: Prospective participants should complete the registration form linked to above, which requests information about the student, their mentor, and their research or creative work. Students may register at any point in the spring or summer until July 15.
Plan: On the Friday after a student registers, they and their mentor will both receive Google Calendar invitations to all remaining SURE programming (workshops and the Symposium). The invitations will include location and Zoom information, as applicable. Prospective registrants can view the full list of workshop offerings and their dates and times by consulting the list under the Features and Programming section further down this page.
Review: Each Friday after the SURE Program begins in June, all currently registered students and their mentors will receive an email update containing that week's (and all previous weeks') workshop materials (slides, worksheets, recordings, and ancillary items), as well as a preview of upcoming programming.
A note about the SURE Symposium: Presenter registration for the SURE Symposium is SEPARATE from registration for the regular SURE Program. All SURE Program registrants will receive information via email about how to register for the Symposium.
Features and Programming
UH Mānoa hosts a variety of summertime research and creative work opportunities, including
- UROP funding opportunities
- National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REUs)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Research and Extension Experiences (REEUs)
- The Cancer Research Education, Advancement, Training and Empowerment (CREATE) Program
- The Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF Program)
- The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ Summer Research Institute (SRI)
- And more!
The SURE Program gathers students conducting research and creative work in these and other programs as a single cohort of supportive peers. Participants include current and incoming UH Mānoa undergraduates, as well as visiting students from other universities around the country. As a central convening point, the SURE Program enables a diverse population to reflect on the shared challenges, individual breakthroughs, and collective learning they experience through their work.
See the section labeled Participation and Eligibility Guidelines below for more information.
SURE offers professional development workshops through which students can build a knowledge base and skillset that will support their research or creative work, as well as their general intellectual growth. All workshops are designed to be interactive and to teach students about diverse topics while engaging them in discussion and activities that offer practice applying new concepts.
Each workshop is designed to be a standalone session that students can participate in independent of other workshops. There is no requirement for students to participate in all or any specific workshops. Instead, registrants may attend whichever session(s) are of greatest interest and use to them.
Students who have received UROP Entering Research and Creative Work (ERC) funding during the summer MUST participate in at least one workshop as a condition of their award.
See below for a full list of SURE workshops.
2026 SURE Program Workshops by UROP
UROP’s end-of-summer SURE Symposium is a multidisciplinary academic conference for undergraduate students to showcase the mentored research and creative work they conducted at UH Mānoa. The 2026 Symposium will take place on Friday, July 31 at the Hawai’i Imin International Conference Center.
The SURE Symposium open and free for all students, faculty, staff, and community members to attend.
Prospective undergraduate presenters may sign up for the event at no cost. Registration for the Symposium is SEPARATE from registration for the regular SURE Program, and participation in the regular SURE Program is not required to participate in the Symposium.
Students completing UROP Project funding or participating in the Mentoring Grant are required to present. Other students should verify their presentation requirements with their mentors.
Participation and Eligibility Guidelines
Students eligible to participate in the SURE program include
- All UH Mānoa undergraduate students participating in or interested in conducting mentored research and creative work.
- Incoming UH Mānoa freshmen and transfer students.
- Any non–UH Mānoa undergraduate student doing research or creative work with a UH Mānoa mentor.
Students do NOT need to be funded by UROP’s ERC, Project, Presentation, or Mentoring Grant funding opportunities to participate.
Mentors whose students are eligible to participate in SURE include
- Any UH Mānoa mentor of a UH Mānoa or non-UH Mānoa undergraduate student conducting research or creative work during the summer is encouraged to have the student participate in the SURE program.
- Any non-UH Mānoa professionals (e.g. postdoctoral researcher at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]) mentoring a UHM undergraduate student is also encouraged to have the student join the SURE program.
Mentors whose students are applying to UROP’s ERC, Project, or Presentation funding, or who are themselves applying for a Mentoring Grant, must meet certain eligibility criteria. See each page for additional information.
About the Program Imagery
Lychee are seasonal berries that ripen into a vibrant red during the summer. The fruit’s rough, shell-like skin encases succulent pale flesh that envelops a marbly brown seed at the center. Lychee originated in southern China, but their intense sweetness—evocative of aromatic flowers and radiant sunshine—makes them a popular treat all throughout Hawai’i, where they grow aloft on trees that flourish in the tropical climate.
In all parts of the world where lychee are enjoyed, people know and prize the berry for its impermanence: the fruit is available only briefly during the summer and, once plucked from its branches, rapidly fades in form and flavor. While the SURE Program is similarly transient, UROP aspires to make the community and learning experiences it offers equally special and enjoyable to this summer’s undergraduate research community.