student in research lab

Undergraduate Research Assistantships (URA)

The Undergraduate Research Assistantships (URA) program provides undergraduate engineering students the opportunity to gain research experience by working with a faculty member to further their knowledge into their field of studies while earning $1000 for the term.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible students for the URA program students must be:

  • Currently registered in an Undergraduate Engineering degree program at the University of Waterloo
  • Have a Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 80% in their previous academic term.
  • Entering into a 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, or 4B academic term in Canada.
  • Receive approval by a faculty member to supervise a URA experience.
  • Must be located in Ontario to be eligible to participate.

URA Supervisor List

The up-to-date URA Supervisor List contains information of all the faculty members who are actively looking to supervise Undergraduate Engineering students with their URA experience. It also includes information on various NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) projects that are also currently available to students.

The URA Supervisor List will continually be updated throughout the term as new information is received by the Dean's Office.

URA Application process
  • Contact a faculty member to propose a potential research assistantship with their project(s). Please see the current URA Supervisor List for some faculty contact information.
  • Complete a URA Application Form (PDF). The student is responsible for filling out PART A and the faculty member must fill out PART B.

  • Applications must be submitted through email to the Dean of Engineering Office at doe.admin@uwaterloo.ca by 4:30p.m. on Friday, January 31st, 2024 in order to be considered for the Winter 2025 term.

No applications will be accepted after the deadline.

Application Deadline

  • Applications must be submitted through email to the Dean of Engineering Office doe.admin@uwaterloo.ca by 4:30p.m. on Friday, January 31st, 2025 in order to be considered for the Winter 2025 term.  

  • The Dean's Top-up of $350 is only provided to the first 60 qualified applicants who are working with a supervisor in Engineering. Each eligible supervisor may only have one Dean's top up per term.After all the spaces have been filled, it is the responsibility of the faculty member, as the student's supervisor, to fund the full $1000 remuneration.

No applications will be accepted after the deadline. 

President's Research Award Program
  • To review the award program's eligibility criteria and submit an online application, please visit the Faculty of Engineering's President's Research Award page.
    • If an applicant is applying to claim this award, please complete and submit both the President's Research Award and Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) applications. The URA application must be submitted to the Dean of Engineering Office at doe.admin@uwaterloo.ca by the posted deadline in addition to completing the online President's Research Award application.
  • If a student is claiming the President's Research Award, with a value of $1500, they are not eligible to claim any of the $1000.00 URA payment.

Questions? Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the URA program.

For more information, please contact Wei-Chau Xie, URA Coordinating Professor at ext. 33988, or the URA Program Administrator at doe.admin@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44885.