The full form of URSL is Undergraduate Research and Service Learning.

The UAB Office of Service Learning and Undergraduate Research connects UAB students, faculty, and community nonprofit partners to enrich student academic learning, promote civic engagement, and to strengthen and support our local and global communities.

Through promoting service learning and undergraduate research opportunities, the office is a bridge between the instructional and service missions of UAB, enabling students and faculty to apply classroom knowledge and research with community partners to address community issues.

• Support and Build Faculty Capacity  — provide greater support for faculty creating service-learning and/or research enhanced courses.
• Enhance Service Learning and Undergraduate Research Visibility   — improve and develop better web-based systems of advertising, promoting, tracking, submitting, and searching SL and UR courses.
• Assess Service-Learning and Undergraduate Research Outcomes  — develop an assessment process for service-learning and undergraduate research courses.
• Enhance Student Learning  — create new academic pathways and incentives for students to develop their community engagement and research interests.
• Encourage and Support Community Partnerships  — support sustainable community-university partnerships that address needs as defined by the community, capitalize on student interest, and support UAB’s mission.

Though many people falsely assume that only professors or graduate students are involved in research, in reality research is integrated into many of our undergraduate academic courses and is featured as the capstone experience in a number of majors. Undergraduate research runs the gamut from biology research in a laboratory to music performance at a senior honors recital. While “research” may conjure images of white lab coats or stacks of leather bound library books, creative activities expand the definition of research to a modern and interdisciplinary realm. From 2D artwork to live performances to artistic historical investigations, many Vanderbilt students expand their academic experiences to a stage, a gallery, or popular media. Many of our undergraduate students also conduct interdisciplinary research across majors, fields, and schools.

Research can also take place in many places and at many times. Vanderbilt offers an exceptional number of opportunities for undergraduate students to do research over the summer, but many students also partake in research right alongside their classwork in Fall and Spring semesters. And although many students do research right here at Vanderbilt, many students also travel to other universities, other cities, other countries, or are supported by types of institutions like government laboratories or privately owned corporations and foundations. Finally, students are not limited by class year, as students from all four years regularly partake in research.