About Us

The Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU) Undergraduate Research and High-Impact Practices Community (UR-HIP) brings together faculty and staff from member institutions to discuss and advance inclusive and effective methods for implementing High-Impact Practices (HIPs) to facilitate undergraduate students’ academic and career success. Areas of focus include connecting HIPs across siloes, measuring “high impact,” navigating evolving funding landscapes for undergraduate research, scaling up HIPs to research university student population size, and addressing barriers to student participation in HIPs. The community also plans to collaborate with other national and international organizations focused on HIPs, while positioning itself as a unique resource for staff and faculty serving undergraduate students at research universities.

Join UERU

Institutions without active UERU memberships, learn more about joining UERU here.

Join UR-HIP

If your institution is already an active UERU member, request to join community here.

^{(MyUERU log in required)}

UR-HIP Events

^{(MyUERU log in required)}

Member Meetings - 3rd Monday of each month from 1-2pm ET

Steering Committee

Lauren Bonilla

Program Manager for Undergraduate Research and High-Impact Learning

Wayne State University

Lauren Bonilla is committed to supporting the holistic educational development of undergraduates through experiential, inquiry-based, and purpose-driven learning. She serves as Program Manager of Undergraduate Research and High Impact Learning at Wayne State University, where she oversees the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and advances initiatives that integrate high-impact practices into student learning while expanding access to undergraduate research for students of all backgrounds.

She earned a BA in Anthropology and Geography from Macalester College and a PhD in Geography from Clark University, where she conducted long-term research on social and environmental change in Mongolia. She has held teaching and research appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University College London, where her work centered on collaborative practices, socially engaged research, and interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability-focused solution building.

Sandi Deacon Carr

Faculty Director for Experiential Education

Boston University

Sandi Deacon Carr, Ph.D. is a Master Lecturer in the Management and Organizations Department at Boston University's Questrom School of Business where she teaches leadership, teaming, and career management courses. Sandi also serves as Boston University’s Faculty Director for Experiential Education where she oversees several experiential learning programs within undergraduate affairs, consults with programs and faculty seeking to develop or augment experiential learning within their curriculum, leads experiential learning curricular and co-curricular initiatives on campus, and serves on university committees such as the Career Strategies Working Group. She specializes in innovations in course design, experiential learning, and curriculum development and leads the faculty team for the required undergraduate career management course series.

Joshua Feinberg

Director, Office of Undergraduate Research

University of Minnesota

Professor working in higher education on research, teaching, and service at the departmental, college, and university levels. As Director of Undergraduate Research (2024-present), I oversee undergraduate research programs and support across all five campuses of the University of Minnesota system. As the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Earth & Environmental Sciences (2016-2023) I helped develop new courses and majors for our students to enable them to be competitive within a variety of geoscience career paths. I work hard to establish partnerships with companies, regulatory agencies, non-profits, and county and municipal organizations. My academic research is varied and uses lab- and field-based applications of mineralogy, material characterization and microscopy, mineral exploration, and magnetics to explore questions about climate and environmental change, archeology, fundamental mineral physics, and the short- and long-term behavior of the Earth's magnetic field.

Stephen Ortiz

Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Enrichment and Executive Director

Binghamton University

Stephen Ortiz has been the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Enrichment at Binghamton University since 2021. In that role he works closely with all of the university's undergraduate research programs, including the curriculum-based First-Year Research Immersion (STEM) and Source Project (Arts, Social Science, and Humanities) research programs. He is a faculty member in the Department of History.

Kimberly Schneider

Assistant Vice Provost, Undergraduate Studies

University of Central Florida

Kimberly R. Schneider has been at the University of Central Florida since 2007 and currently serves as assistant vice provost in the Office of Undergraduate Studies. She previously worked in the Division of Student Success and Well-Being, where she oversaw centralized career planning and academic engagement departments. Before that, she was assistant dean in the College of Undergraduate Studies and the founding director of the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Florida and a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of South Carolina. Her current research focuses on science education and high-impact practice engagement. An active scholar, Schneider has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and has received continuous external grant funding for more than 17 years at UCF.

Leticia Steffen

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Achievement and Enrichment

Missouri University of Science and Technology

I am passionate about helping students navigate their higher education journeys through academic support and enrichment.

Belkys Torres

Associate Vice Provost for Curricular Innovation, Office of the Provost

University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus

In her capacity as Associate Vice Provost for Curricular Innovation, Dr. Torres provides strategic leadership in the design, development, and implementation of innovative academic initiatives and learning experiences. This role supports the institution’s mission to deliver high-quality, learner-centered education across all modalities, including in-person, online, hybrid, and non-credit formats.

Dr. Torres also holds the position of Teaching Associate Professor in Latinx and Gender Studies for the Literature Program in the Department of English.

Her research interests include Latinx literary and cultural studies, ethnic media studies, cultural hybridity, transnationalism, feminist theory, intercultural competency training, global & community engaged learning, and program/curricular assessment.

Kate Weishaar

Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Kate is the Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at MIT. In her role, Kate leads the wonderful team of UROP staff in managing ongoing operations and defining and pursuing strategic objectives. She also manages aspects of the Office of Experiential Learning’s assessment, communications, systems, and programming to create a more intentional, integrated, and impactful ecosystem of experiential learning opportunities across MIT.

Kate has worked in MIT’s Division of Graduate and Undergraduate Education (GUE) in various roles since 2018. Across these roles, she has led and supported strategic initiatives in GUE including staffing the Task Force on the Undergraduate Academic Program, leading various projects to improve access to and quality of experiential learning opportunities, assessing and reimagining first-year advising, reforming grading policies, and facilitating major exploration. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture Studies from MIT and a Master of Education degree in higher education administration from Northeastern University.