MENTORING

Fall 2023 Faculty Undergraduate Research Webinar Series

Monday and Wednesday common hour – 12:10-1:10 PM

Dr. Maria Iacullo-Bird, Assistant Provost for Research

  • Learn about Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Opportunities and Resources – 09/27/23

  • How to Get Started in Grant Writing and Include Undergraduate Research – 10/18/23

  • Applying for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program Site or Supplement – 12/11/23

    Register in advance for Monday’s meeting
    Register in advance for Wednesday’s meeting
    After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Be a Better Mentor: Mentoring Undergraduates in Research Workshop

Dr. Avrom Caplan, Associate Provost for Research

Effective mentoring practices optimize research experiences for both students and faculty. This workshop is designed for faculty who mentor undergraduates in research to illustrate best practices and overcome problems that arise during the mentoring process.

TBD

The workshop is open to all full-time faculty.

FUNDING

Internal Opportunities for Faculty to advance undergraduate research

Provost's Student-Faculty Undergraduate Research/Creative Inquiry Award Programs: Academic Year and Summer

The next call for summer applications will appear in early Spring 2024; the call for academic applications will appear in late Spring 2024.

This university-wide, academic-year research grant program is designed to support research and artistic projects that have evolved from coursework and research/artistic settings and will benefit from further in-depth development through sustained student work and faculty mentoring.

The goal of this program is to support independent, faculty-mentored undergraduate research or artistic projects that are not fulfilling course or degree requirements during the academic year and summer.

Student awardees and Faculty Mentors receive a stipend paid in installments. Faculty may sponsor a second student or student group project but due to funding limitations, faculty are eligible for only one stipend per award cycle. Students who receive funding for an award cycle -either for the summer or academic year- may apply for a second funding cycle award. To advance access and inclusion in undergraduate research, priority is given during the faculty review process to first-time program applicants. Students may hold up to a maximum of two Provost Undergraduate Research Awards during their college studies.

All student awardees are expected:
  • to work part-time on their projects;
  • to participate in regular check-ins with their faculty mentor no less than twice a month;
  • to descriptive reflections about the research/artistic experience
  • to submit a final research paper, or artistic project, and;
  • to present at Fall Showcase or Spring Research Day
Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • be full-time undergraduate student at Pace University
  • be entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year in Fall 2023
  • have successfully completed introductory courses in the proposed project field
  • meet a minimum 3.0 QPA (overall quality point average)
  • have a faculty sponsor willing to mentor the summer project          Any exception to academic eligibility requirements must be addressed in both the student application and faculty recommendation.
All student awardees are expected:
  • to work part-time on their projects;
  • to participate in regular check-ins with their faculty mentor no less than twice a month;
  • to descriptive reflections about the research/artistic experience
  • to submit a final research paper, or artistic project, and;
  • to present at Fall Showcase or Spring Research Day
Requirements

For the 2023-2024 Academic Year, student award recipients are required to:

a) attend a program orientation, and subsequent check-in meetings
b) meet all university research requirements that include:
– Submitting Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for research involving human subjects
– Submitting Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval for research involving animals
– Submitting Pace legal consent forms completed for any research artistic projects which include identifiable images and/or interviews as part of the project
IRB or IACUC approvals and completed consent forms must be submitted to award supervisory staff.
c) verify that the grant award will support an independent research or artistic project that is outside assigned coursework, and is not fulfilling an academic requirement such as the senior capstone or Honors College thesis
d) work part-time on their research or artistic projects
e) participate in monthly research webinars
f) participate in regular check-ins with their faculty mentor no less than twice a month
g) write four reflections about the research experience
h) present at Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Day in May
i) submit a research paper or artistic project as the program concludes                                                                                                                                                                                                       Academic Year 2023-2024                                                                             Project proposals are for the full 2023-2024 academic year (both Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters

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For Summer 2023, student award recipients are required to:

(a) attend a program orientation, mid-summer check-in, and concluding meeting
(b) meet all university research requirements that include:
– Submitting Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for research involving human subjects
– Submitting Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval for research involving animals
– Submitting Pace legal consent forms completed for any research artistic projects which include identifiable images and/or interviews as part of the project
IRB or IACUC approvals and completed consent forms must be submitted to award supervisory staff.
(c) weekly work on projects and meet or check-in by email with faculty mentor
(d) write reflections about the research experience
(e) submit the research paper or artistic project at the program conclusion
(f) present project outcomes at the virtual Fall 2023 Undergraduate Research Presentation Series and at the Fall 2023 Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Day Student Showcase

Summer 2023                                                                                              Projects may commence as early May 15, 2023 and conclude August 31, 2023.

All student awardees are expected:
  • to work part-time on their projects;
  • to participate in regular check-ins with their faculty mentor no less than twice a month;
  • to descriptive reflections about the research/artistic experience
  • to submit a final research paper, or artistic project, and;
  • to present at Fall Showcase or Spring Research Day
Evaluation

Faculty from across the schools and colleges review student submissions based on the following criteria:

  • Scholarly merits of the proposal
  • Overall quality, organization, and clarity of the student-written proposal
  • Student role is specified in the faculty-mentored research or creative project
  • Mentoring commitment for a supportive learning environment
  • Contribution of the project to the student’s discipline or field of study
  • Feasibility of the project outcomes
  • Potential for external presentation and/or publication
Undergraduate Research Assistantships Program 2023-2024 Academic Year

The Center for Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) is soliciting proposals from faculty for undergraduate research assistants to support faculty research and artistic projects! Once approved by CURE, these jobs will be posted for students who hold federal work-study (FWS) awards in their Pace financial aid packages.

After students apply, each faculty member will review the student applications submitted for the research position to select an undergraduate research assistant.

Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds are depleted.

Undergraduate Research Assistantships Program Application

If you have questions about the grant awards or work-study positions, contact Maria Iacullo-Bird, Ph.D., Assistant Provost for Research at miacullobird@pace.edu.

Guidelines for FWS Assistantships positions:

For the academic year a student may hold either an undergraduate grant award or the work-study position but not both. The only exception is for a senior graduating in December who may hold both a one-semester grant award and a one-semester work-study research assistantship position.

Create a position that is on-campus and has the option to support remote work as needed.

The availability of federal work-study funds for undergraduate research enables Pace:

  • to involve more students in research
  • to introduce research earlier in a student’s college years, since entering freshman will be eligible along with all other full-time undergraduate students
  • to help ensure greater inclusion and diversity among student researchers
  • to provide an opportunity for faculty members to obtain support for their research and enhance opportunities for student-faculty collaboration on academic projects

According to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, once a student is paid for work, that student cannot “volunteer” to continue that same work. If the student’s work-study funds become exhausted, the faculty member must either conclude the project with that student research assistant, or, obtain an alternative funding source to continue the project with the same research assistant.

Application Deadline: March 24, 2023

See Faculty Awardees
Classroom-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Award

The Pace University Office of Research invites proposals for funding of up to $5,000 to support the incorporation of authentic research and creative inquiry projects into the undergraduate curriculum. We are particularly interested in proposals that will create research experiences across disciplines and schools in courses that are dedicated (partly or entirely) to first-year students. Our goal is to make unique classroom-based research projects part of our first-year students’ introduction to Pace and to the experiential pedagogy that distinguishes Pace undergraduate education.

Application guidelines and template are available here

External Funding Opportunities

National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)

The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports research participation by undergraduate students in research projects funded by the NSF.

The REU program is designed to increase student participation in a broad range of research initiatives to encourage careers in STEM fields and in all fields that receive NSF funding including the social and behavioral sciences.

The REU Program Solicitation, which can be found under Program Guidelines on the REU Program Overview page, provides instructions on how to apply for an REU Site or an REU Supplement.

This REU Program features two mechanisms to support student research:

(1) REU Sites are based on independent proposals to initiate and conduct projects that engage a number of students in research. REU Sites may be based in a single discipline or academic department or may offer interdisciplinary or multi-department research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme. Proposals with an international dimension are welcome.

Proposals for REU Sites must be submitted by the annual deadline, which is advertised in the solicitation. REU Sites are funded by research divisions/directorates throughout the Foundation. Each disciplinary unit has a point-of-contact for questions about REU Site proposals, which can be found on the Web page REU Site Contacts.

(2) REU Supplements may be included as a component of proposals for new or renewal NSF grants or cooperative agreements or may be requested for ongoing NSF-funded research projects.      

See the REU program solicitation

PEDAGOGY

Undergraduate Research as a High-Impact Practice

There is an extensive literature addressing undergraduate research as a pedagogy for advancing student success:

RESEARCH PROTOCOLS

Research Protections: IRB/IACUC

Institutional Review Board (IRB) review is required when faculty and their students are conducting research on human subjects. Undergraduate students cannot serve as a PI; a member of the faculty or staff must be the PI on undergraduate projects. Undergraduates can, however, be co-investigators on a proposal. If you have questions about whether your project/activity requires IRB approval, please email the IRB Coordinator.

For more information consult the Pace IRB website.