STUDENTS Undergraduate Scholar Assistant (USA) Program

The USA Program provides undergraduate students with multi-faceted opportunities to work with UI faculty in ways that give the student a first-hand look at the career of an academic at a large research institution. USA students are paid to work 10 hours per week assisting a tenured track faculty member with with his or her research and/or teaching responsibilities. Lab work, data collection, manuscript editing, and teaching are a few common duties of USA students. Please note that Honors is now administering this program. All requests for funding should be directed to Mary Uhl at 319-335-1681.

Students in the program must:

  • be an undergraduate
  • have at least sophomore status
  • have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0
  • be a full-time student

Tenure-track faculty members may hire one USA student as an assistant. Students are paid with special USA funds that are not taken from the academic departmental budget.

In addition to payment, each USA student is eligible to receive an internship notation on their official transcript as a form of recognition from the University. Please go to the "Steps" section for details on the process for registering this internship.