About the CE STAR program
STudent Academic Research (STAR) Program is a one-year research program for undergraduate students to conduct a cutting edge academic work under the supervision of a faculty member. The program has been successfully conducted under the name of EEE STAR at the METU Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department and the structure of the CE STAR has been mainly adapted from the EEE STAR program. Students will have the opportunity to be part of different research groups in the department. The STAR Program was initiated for the first time in 2019 with the idea of Prof. Dr. Alp Caner, and with the support of Prof. Dr. Ahmet Turer, the chair of the department, encouraging undergraduate research.
Being a STAR student, you can have an early start to your academic career in which you can be part of an outstanding research team. The student can have also the opportunity to attend the international conferences to present the results of the research and meet with experts to discuss the research findings.
Outline of the Program:
The program starts in March every year and ends in one year. A list of projects proposed by our faculty is provided in the Current Program tab. These are often short descriptions to get you to start a discussion with the respective faculty member. You may fine-tune the research topic with your advisor or propose a completely new subject. If you would like to work with faculty members who are not listed in the Current Program tab, you may want to talk to them directly.
If you agree on a common project with a faculty member, you should fill out the application form under the Forms tab and follow the steps explained there. Please note that you should be able to commit a set number of hours per week to work on your research project. The duration of your studies and the required time will be determined by the STAR advisor.
If you are not currently enrolled in the program and considering to join, you are highly encouraged to talk to the faculty members and start working on your project as early as possible.
The one-year program ends with final report submissions, poster presentations, and the award ceremony. Below is the tentative timeline of the program:
April – Application deadline
Following June – Initial progress surveys due
Following October – Half-time surveys due
Following February – Posters due
Following February – Poster presentations and award ceremony
Some of the selected research work can be counted for the summer practice if approved by the instructor. Summer practice shall also be approved by the Department in advance.
Requirements:
CE STAR program is open to all students with good academic standing.
- Students in all years (freshman to 4th year) can apply.
- Applicants need to have either GPA (regular semester, no summer school) or CPGA to be higher than 2.5, while both of them is above 2.0 at any time.
- CESTAR enrolled students shall continue to maintain a GPA of at least 2.00 at any semester (2019-2020) without any failing grades (FF or FD) from any course.
- If the applicant cannot satisfy these requirements, we recommend that the student spends the extra hours that will be allocated for the STAR program to study for the lectures in order to get her/his grades up. If the student still would like to work with a faculty member, she/he should contact the faculty member and get written consent to waive this requirement.
Awards:
Each student who completes the program will receive a program certificate of completion in the award ceremony. In addition, students that make the most successful poster presentations, as well as those, involved in a conference/journal paper submission will win special awards such as monetary rewards. A half day workshop will be organized for the award-winning researchers.