The Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) Program at SIUE encourages, supports, and enables students to participate in research and creative activities at the undergraduate level. An undergraduate research or creative activity experience enhances the quality of the baccalaureate experience by giving students opportunities to engage in scholarship, to interact with faculty, and to connect more fully in the educational process of discovering and creating. The URCA Program recognizes that student talents can be uncovered in ways that do not appear through the usual format of classroom instruction and testing. In cooperation with the academic departments at SIUE, the URCA Program recruits eligible students as URCA Associates and URCA Assistants.
Participation in the URCA Program as an Associate, Assistant or Mentor is a privilege for both students and faculty. If a participant in the URCA Program is not meeting expectations in any area, either within or outside of the URCA Program (i.e. related or unrelated coursework, communication, institutional responsibilities and values, university activities, etc.), the individual's participation in the URCA Program may be affected.
Learn more about the URCA Program below
URCA Student Experiences
Milena Di Blasi
"Hi! I'm Milena Di Blasi, an international student from Italy. I recently graduated with a major in Biochemistry and minors in Computer Science and Biological Sciences. I have been involved with the URCA program since the first semester of my freshman
year.
I began as an URCA Assistant with Dr. Wilmsmeyer, who gave me the opportunity to start an independent project focused on identifying risk factors for breast cancer. This experience introduced me to working with large datasets and taught me how to read and analyze scientific literature. In my second year, I joined a larger project in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Public Health, where we aimed to build a predictive model for opioid overdose using machine learning.
During my third year, I joined Dr. Tucker’s lab, which gave me hands-on experience in a wet lab setting. I loved the work and was inspired to apply for a summer research
program at Washington University in St. Louis. The admissions committee was impressed by my research with URCA, and I was accepted to work in their Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology. There, I conducted proteomics research using mass spectrometry, honing the skills I began developing in Dr. Tucker’s lab and gaining new knowledge to carry into my senior-year research at SIUE.
I later became an URCA Associate and launched my own research project, analyzing drinking water across Illinois for the presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds, including estrogens and pesticides.
I'm incredibly grateful for the URCA program and the wealth of opportunities it has offered me, from building meaningful relationships with faculty across disciplines to shaping my passion for research. I'm now excited to continue my journey as a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine."
