Engineers For Exploration is a group of students who develop and use technology to drive the future of exploration. Our projects span aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments, opening new perspectives of the planet. With international collaborators in ecology, conservation, and archaeology, we apply remote imaging, sensing, and robotic technologies to extend the limits of human exploration.

Interested in Joining?

Our research group consists mostly of undergraduate students interested in applying the theoretical knowledge learned in academic classes to solving real-world problems. Many of our students come from engineering majors, but any motivated student can join our group. Engineers for Exploration projects uniquely provide the opportunity to combine hands-on engineering skills with foundational academic research, allowing students to develop skills early on in their careers which are invaluable both to industry engineering positions and in graduate school.

We are looking for students who are enthusiastic about engineering, technology, and exploration to participate in our research and development projects. Students must be self-motivated and excited about learning new technical skills, no matter their academic backgrounds. We especially encourage students with an interest in photography and filmmaking to join, since our field expeditions provide extraordinary opportunities for creating exciting media.

Get Involved – Summer Research 2024

UC San Diego’s Engineers for Exploration Summer Research Program is an NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) Site centered around multidisciplinary and collaborative student research with the broad goals of protecting the environment, uncovering mysteries related to cultural heritage, and providing experiential learning experiences.  Our program is a full-time paid research experience from June 24th to August 30th in which students will work in multidisciplinary research teams to aid scientists from the San Diego Zoo, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and UC San Diego in tackling problems in fields such as ecology, physical oceanography, and archeology.

During this program, students will create and apply technologies in novel ways to aid scientists in their work, and may have opportunities to accompany these technologies on field deployments around the world.  Through these projects, students can expect to learn about embedded systems and software, machine learning, electronics integration, mechanical design, system building, as well as project management and team leadership.  For more information, please visit our website at https://e4e.ucsd.edu.

Applications are currently being accepted at https://e4e.ucsd.edu/apply through February 15.  Applications will continue to be accepted through March 30 if positions are not yet filled.

Get Involved – Academic Year

If you are interested, or if you have more questions, please feel free to come to any of our other general meetings listed on the Calendar of Events. You should also contact the project lead if you have questions about specific projects. If you have specific skillsets, have a look at our targeted open positions, and see if you have a skillset we are looking for in particular!

For UCSD students, to get started, please fill out this Intake Form. One of our staff engineers or project leads will reach out to you. If you don’t hear back from us, feel free to ping us at e4e@ucsd.edu. In addition, feel free to come to any of the general meetings listed on the Calendar of Events.

Applications are open.

Timeline for spring 2024 is below:

• 04/15/2024 02:00 PM (CSE 1242) – Info Session and Quick Interviews
• 04/22/2024 06:00 PM – Priority Deadline

We are now reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

Academic Year Student Levels

As a member of a project team, you can expect to make material contributions to a project that has a concrete impact on the way we understand and explore the world. To recognize the various levels that individuals put into each project, we’ve established a sequence of accomplishments that you can earn throughout your time in E4E.

You can find out more about these levels in this document.