An excerpt from a letter written to the participants of HURS 2007 by HURS founder Shantanu Gaur '08:

I would like to congratulate this year's participants in the Harvard Undergraduate Research Symposium (HURS). I founded HURS in 2006 to provide my undergraduate peers a forum for presenting and sharing their research experiences with the Harvard community. Quite appropriately, I began planning HURS as a Program for Research in Science and Engineering (PRISE) fellow, where I was surrounded by other students who shared my vision of promoting interdisciplinary dialogue in the undergraduate community. PRISE was in its first year of existence at the time, and HURS benefited tremendously from the excitement and energy that surrounded the program.

After the nearly 75 undergraduates presented their work at the 2006 symposium, HURS became a cornerstone of Harvard's scientific culture and exemplified the progressive transformations that were taking place in the Harvard community. The integrated Life Sciences program had just been launched, PRISE had just graduated its first cohort of undergraduates, and the academic advising program was beginning a significant overhaul. It was an exciting time to be an undergraduate researcher at Harvard, and HURS both benefited from and contributed to that enthusiasm. I believe Harvard will remain a leader in undergraduate education as long as programs like HURS continue to flourish and receive undivided support from faculty and students.

In the summer of 2007, I passed HURS along to the newly founded Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association (HCURA). I was very pleased with the initiative HCURA showed in planning the 2007 symposium and in particular, the enthusiasm they engendered in the freshman and sophomore classes. I am confident that future leaders of the HCURA will ensure that HURS continues to be a successful annual showcase of undergraduate research at Harvard.

I invite students and observers alike to peruse this year's abstract booklet and experience firsthand the breadth of research conducted by Harvard undergraduates. You will learn that Harvard students are performing groundbreaking experiments in projects that far exceed a typical undergraduate research experience. More importantly, however, you will bear witness to the long list of Harvard faculty members who serve as mentors for aspiring undergraduates. I am sure that if you return to next year's symposium and pick up a copy of the abstract booklet, you will see many of the same names repeated. Harvard students, myself included, are deeply indebted to the faculty who continue the rich tradition of undergraduate research at Harvard.

Sincerely,

Founder, HURS

gaur@post.harvard.edu