Research, Internships, Community Service

Opportunities for independent research projects, internships, and community service are available in most EAP locations.

EAP believes that hands-on academic and intern experiences further broaden students’ knowledge and understanding of their academic discipline. In work conducted under the supervision of a faculty member or professional abroad, UC students are provided divergent perspectives, examine local case studies, and may arrive at alternative solutions.
Students plan and design projects in consultation with the EAP Study Center Director or host university faculty member. After conducting the project and meeting regularly for guidance, students complete a serious academic paper or project that has been developed in collaboration with the local sponsor. 

EAP students have completed research projects, some of which have gone on for further recognition:

• A study of mother tongue literacy in Ghana went on to win national recognition by the Forum on Education Abroad as an undergraduate research award winner in 2007 (Ghana)
• The existence of Black consciousness in a racial democracy (Brazil)
• Nosology of health and sickness between modern doctors and indigenous patients (Mexico)
• Comparison of rodent diversity and abundance between forest connected windbreaks in pasture and coffee farms (Costa Rica)
• Gender and race paradigms in oral narratives of Asian-American students (Singapore)
• The effect of nucleoside uptake on modulating the activity of efferent motor neurons in the rat spinal cord (England)

EAP students also engage in service to the local community through committed volunteer activities in schools, health and human service agencies, international and local non-governmental organizations, and other group service projects.