Quasicrystal Electron Diffraction Pattern
This electron diffraction pattern shows the unusual five-fold and 10-fold symmetries of a quasicrystal. What surprising results will you uncover in your own research?

The philosophy of the Educational and Research Training Collaborative (ERTC) at UIC is that learning the practice of scientific research is a long-term and evolving process, and that the ideal time to begin this process is early in undergraduate studies.  We believe that becoming involved in the research experience should be an integral part of a student’s educational path, and that research should be a part of a student’s everyday life in the university.

In the ERTC, students currently work in seven different Research Areas:  Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Information Science, Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, Mathematics, and Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry.  For more details on current research programs in the ERTC, visit our Research Pages.

Students in the ERTC work for 5-10 hours per week within the research groups of their faculty mentors as full participants in the scientific progress of the group, and are supported by an hourly wage during the academic year.  During the summers, students work full time on their research project for a 10 week summer session.

In addition, students participate in an ongoing sequence  of seminars on the fundamentals of research practice, as well as a series of workshops with visiting scientists and engineeers that allow students to become familiar with the scientific programs of the research laboratories of the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Energy.