"The NSF has been particularly influential in pressing for continued reform in the integration of research and undergraduate education," says Timothy L. Killeen, associate vice president of research and professor of atmospheric, oceanic, and space sciences.

Two prestigious National Science Foundation awards have rewarded the University’s own efforts. In 1997, the University received one of the first NSF Recognition Awards for the Integration of Research and Education (RAIRE), as well as an Institution-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education award.

The RAIRE award recognized the University for fostering student diversity in undergraduate science and engineering education by engaging students in research experiences and learning communities. The award cited the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) and the Women in Science and Engineering-Residential Program (WISE-RP), and provided $500,000 to support dissemination of these programs.

UROP is the University’s largest undergraduate research program. At the 1999 Wiener Symposium, keynote speaker (and former NSF director) Neal Lane said the program "demonstrates the importance of teaching students early in their college years, when they are at greatest risk of leaving science. And it has shown that there are many different ways undergraduate not only can participate in research but can actually make important contributions to that research." In 1999, UROP received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Started in 1993, the Women in Science and Engineering-Residential Program was one of the first "living-learning" programs at Michigan. First- and second-year women students live together in a supportive academic environment aimed at keeping them in the sciences and engineering. Introductory science and mathematics courses are offered at their residence hall. Peer group counseling and study teams are emphasized.

The Institute-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education award enabled the University to develop a two-semester course on global change for non-science majors. A faculty team from the College of Engineering; the LS&A departments of biology, geological sciences and sociology; and the School of Natural Resources teaches the courses. Within a week of the start of classes, students are doing open-ended, computerized dynamic modeling of the atmosphere, and use the World Wide Web to conduct experiments as part of their formal classwork and homework, forging a life-long link to a better understanding of science.

Lane noted that the University has done an excellent job of documenting the research experiences on undergraduate learning, but that "undergraduate research for the larger student body will not thrive and spread without an infrastructure of policies and programs to fosters its development."