Oregon Pathways to Industry Research Careers (OPIRC)

OPIRC is a scholarship program the supports students with financial need as they move from partner community colleges to University of Oregon and on to high-wage engineering and science careers.

Partner community colleges: Central Oregon Community College, Lane Community College, and Umpqua Community College.

Students transfer to UO to major in biochemistry, chemistry, or physics. The next step in the OPIRC pathway is the UO Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program (KCGIP), an accelerated master’s program in chemistry and physics in which students earn paid research internship with partner companies within the manufacturing, high-tech and healthcare fields (specifically: semiconductors, optics, polymers, sensors, and bioinformatics).

Scholars are supported by:

• Career and academic mentoring
• Community-building activities
• Professional networking opportunities

Learn more about the program on our OPIRC NSF Science Pathways website.