Our Story
A decade of research.
From a two-person idea in Fall 2016 to one of the largest undergraduate research organizations at USF.
10+ Years Active
43 Research Groups
100+ Officers Served
4 National Conferences
2016–17
The Beginning
URS Founded
E-Board
- Co-Presidents: Dakota Becker-Greene & Sanim Rahman
- Fall 2016 Sanim and Dakota start planning URS
- Spring 2017 URS is created
- 04/27/2017 URS birthday ↗
- 07/13/2017 First tabling ↗
First tabling, July 2017
USFSM Catalog 2016-17
2017–18
First Events
First ConferenceFirst Workshop
E-Board
- Co-Presidents: Dakota Becker-Greene & Sanim Rahman
- 08/2017 First event
- 09/17/2017 Insta created ↗
- 09/17/2017 2nd General Body Meeting ↗
2nd General Body Meeting, September 2017 - 09/27/2017 First URSx Talk ↗
URSx Talk, September 2017 - 10/09/2017 Hosted our first research conference ↗
First URS research conference, October 2017 - 10/15/2017 URS General Body Meeting ↗
- 11/01/2017 General Body Meeting with Guest Speaker ↗
General Body Meeting with Guest Speaker, November 2017 - 11/13/2017 First ever URS Faculty Talk ↗
First URS Faculty Talk, November 2017 - 01/17/2018 First URS Social Mixer ↗
- 01/29/2018 UR Talk ↗
- 03/27/2018 URS Faculty Talk ↗
- 04/09/2018 First workshop
- 04/09/2018 URS Conference Poster Presentation ↗
- 04/25/2018 URS Final Spring GBM ↗
URS Final Spring GBM, April 2018
USF Tampa Catalog 2017-18
2018–19
Growing Roots
E-Board
- President: Nicole Libell
- VP: Jasmine Boone
- Conference Chair: Jasmine Boone
- Publicity & Outreach Chair: Brittany L.
- 09/25/2018 So You Want To Get Involved in Research?
- 10/15/2018 Fall Expo
- 11/06/2018 Undergraduate Research Night! - USF Biology, URS & Phi Sigma Theta
- 03/04/2019 Need Help With Your Abstract Submission?
- 03/05/2019 Research Poster Walk-In Workshops ↗
- 03/18/2019 Workshop: How To Design A Research Poster
- 03/21/2019 Getting A Headstart On Research
- 03/25/2019 Workshop: Presenting A Research Poster
2019–20
Expanding
E-Board
- President: Jasmine Boone
- VP: Abigaelle Bien-Aime
- Conference Chair: Jeremy Brower
- Emerging Leader: Kaylie Miller
- 09/12/2019 Abstract Development Workshop
- 10/02/2019 Learn S'more About Research
- 10/07/2019 3rd Annual URS Fall Expo ↗
- 02/16/2020 Workshop: How to Design A Research Poster
2020–21
Resilience
- 10/29/2020 Workshop #1: Getting Started In Research
2021–22
New Leadership
- 08/25/2021 Chantae Ciceron appointed as URS faculty advisor
2022–23
Research Groups Launch
New LogoFirst Research Groups
E-Board
- President: Andrea Weitoschova
- VP: Julia Llanos
- Public Relations: Yusuf Qureshi
- Treasurer: Shrinit Babel
- Secretary: Natalya Thomas
- Research Coordinators: Mohammed Iqbal, Christian Kaplan, Michelle Jayaraj, Gayathri Mannem, Jm Rahman
- 05/04/2022 New URS logo unveiled ↗
Redesigned URS logo, 2022 - 10/09/2022 URS at Research Readiness Day ↗
URS at Research Readiness Day, October 2022 - 10/12/2022 First research group topics opened ↗
First research group topics, October 2022 -
Year-End Research Seminar, November 2022 - 02/04/2023 Western Blotting Workshop - Moffitt Cancer Center × URS × GomesLab
- 02/11/2023 URS × PAMSA Medical School Forum
2023–24
JIST & Growth
JIST Founded30 Research Groups
E-Board
- President: Julia Llanos
- VP: Jm Rahman
- 10/28/2023 Workshop: Purification of Recombinant Proteins by Affinity Chromatography
- 11/07/2023 SABER Seminar 2023 - URS × EBC
- 02/13/2024 Introduction to R Workshop for Cell Expression Analysis
30 research groups active
2024–25
National Reach
43 Research GroupsURS at Penn
E-Board
- President: Jm Rahman
- VPs: Trisha Pitchala & Yusuf Qureshi
- Secretary: Leo Rocha Munguba
- Treasurer: Tamer Fadli
- Research Director: Nadija Sulcaj
-
43 available research groups, 2024–25 - 09/14/2024 PCR Workshop ↗
PCR Workshop, September 2024 - 03/09/2025 JIST created ↗
- 03/29/2025 FLYRIS Conference
- 06/20/2025 Dr. Kemi Akintewe appointed as faculty advisor
43 research groups active
2025–26
Innovation Era
Research Innovation CommitteeMentorship Program
E-Board
- President: Nadija Sulcaj
- VP: Roy Chen
- Secretary: Sriya Grandhi
- Treasurer: Leo Rocha Munguba
- Research Directors: Andrew Knight & Wynter Dean
- Mentorship Director: Ritika Surapuraju
- Research Innovation: Ana Beatriz Melgar
- 06/2025 Research Innovation Committee created to help with recruiting
- 09/07/2025 Mentor & Mentee Program launched
- 01/31/2026 Introduction to R Workshop - VP Roy Chen
2026–27
Today Current
41-Person E-BoardWebsite LaunchedComputational Committee
E-Board
- President: Ritika Surapuraju
- VP: Ana Beatriz Melgar
- Secretary: Stecile Jean Mary
- Treasurer: Pranav Anbalagan
- Senior Research Director: Andrew Knight
41 people on the E-Board, with committees: Research, Ambassadors, Computational, Marketing, Mentorship, Research Innovation, and Workshop
- 05/2026 Creation of computational committee
- 06/2026 LinkedIn Page Created ↗
- 08/16/2026 URS website created and launched ↗
- 10/2026 URS at GCURS (Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium)