The Petit Undergraduate Research Scholars program provides an opportunity for graduate students and post doctoral fellows to mentor undergraduate scholars for valuable mentoring and project management experience while allowing them to further their research interests.
The mentor project submission process and the undergraduate scholar application process take place in the summer/early fall of 2017. The 2018 program itself runs from January through December.
Benefits to Mentors:
- Graduate student mentors receive $2500 to be used for travel to scientific conferences or materials & supplies for the lab
- Great CV builder, most employers prefer Ph.D.’s with management experience
Mentor Application Guidelines:
- Meet with your advisor to ask if mentoring an undergraduate is a good fit for you and your lab
- Ask advisor to send an email to Floyd Wood giving their approval for you to submit a project for consideration and confirming your full-year availability to mentor
Project Selection:
- Only projects which allow undergraduates to work independently will be considered, detailed description of undergraduate's project (as it pertains to thesis work of mentor) must be provided
- Due to specific funding support for the 2018 class, special consideration will be given to projects with a focus in the following areas: pediatrics (including robotics, data analytics, interoperability, process improvement, nanomedicine, sensor and device development), neuroengineering, immunoengineering and bioinformatics
- Projects will be reviewed by a committee
- A lab may submit more than one proposal, but each mentor can only submit one proposal
If You are Already Mentoring a Top Undergrad:
- If you are currently mentoring an undergraduate who is planning to submit an application to be a 2018 Petit Scholar, you must submit a project proposal during this process describing the independent research project for that mentee and how it pertains to your own thesis work
- You may indicate on the proposal proposal application whether or not you wish for your project to be considered by other Petit Scholars if your undergraduate is not selected
Other Program Requirements:
- All mentors must be available to mentor scholars throughout the full calendar year, January 2018 through December 2018. See note above about required email to Floyd Wood from your advisor confirming your availability.
- As a mentor, you will be required to attend an orientation session in January 2018. Additionally, mentors may be invited to donor events throughout the year to highlight the program.
- A progress report and evaluation must be conducted on the mentee at the end of spring, summer and fall semesters
Timeline:
- Post docs and graduate students submit project proposals (along with faculty approval email) from August 1, 2017 - September 18, 2017
- Undergraduates submit scholarship applications through September 18, 2017
- Newly-named scholars to conduct interviews with prospective mentors late-October 2017
- Mentors and scholars are matched and notifications sent by early November 2017
- Program runs from January - December 2018
For questions about the mentoring program, contact Colly Mitchell
