Thank you for your interest in serving as a mentor to a first-year student!

• Full-time KSU faculty members and postdoctoral researchers who are committed to mentoring a first-year student are eligible to apply. 
• Mentors may only submit one project as the Primary Investigator (PI).
• Selection is competitive; you will be notified if you have been selected within two weeks of the deadline. 
• PI funding will become available after the students have been selected and matched to the project (typically the beginning of October).

The following information is requested via the application in InfoReady:

1. Name, KSU Email, Department Affiliation
2. Co-PIs? If yes, their information.
3. Project Title
   • Avoid jargon if possible - this will be used on the website to recruit students to your project.
4. Project Description (400 words max)
   • Written for non-technical audience. Will be copied verbatim to the website to recruit students to your project
5. How does this project meet the definition of undergraduate research? (300 words max)
6. Student Outcomes (300 words max)
   • Skills or techniques students will learn from your project
7. Student Weekly Duties
8. Modality
   • Face-to-Face, Hybrid, Online
9. Preferred Number of Students
   • 5 is the max, but this is not guaranteed
10. PI Research Portfolio (300 works max)
    • Overview of your research portfolio and your experience incorporating undergrads into research activities
11. Previous OUR Funding for the last three fiscal years, if applicable
12. Preliminary Budget Table (template is provided)

Things a successful application avoids:

• Abbreviations with no explanation
• Lots of technical or discipline specific jargon
• Exclusionary language
  • As a reminder, students are allowed to apply to any project they find interesting, even if it is outside their discipline. We encourage topic interest over discipline alignment, and see the value in building interdisciplinary research teams.
• Pre-set availability requirements
  • Student applicants will already be set in their fall classes, and PIs should be flexible at the beginning of the program

As this program provides a funding resource for the accepted research projects, the Office of Undergraduate Research maintains these requirements for all Primary Investigators (PIs) accepted into the program. 

First-Year Scholar Primary Investigators (PIs) are required to:

• attend one (1) mandatory program orientation session, each semester
• complete progress reports for each matched student throughout the duration of the program
• complete mid-year and year-end evaluation surveys for each matched student
• commit a minimum of 1-hour to judging at the Symposium of Student Scholars each semester

These requirements, particularly the progress reports and surveys, are vital to collecting data on how the funding is being utilized, as we rely on the PIs to relay this information to us. Should an audit of Office of Undergraduate Research funding usage be requested, this is our current reporting method.

Failure to fulfill these requirements will result in ineligibility for 1-year of future funding from the Office of Undergraduate Research

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions. 

As a mentor to a First-Year Scholar, you will be responsible for ensuring that each student matched to your project:

• works on the project for an average of 5-10 hrs/week
  • working hours are kept to weekdays, when classes are in session, and when the university is open, unless an agreement is made in advance between the student(s) and the PI 
• presents the research project at the Symposium of Student Scholars in April
• stays informed on the requirements to receive their stipend payments as laid out by the Office of Undergraduate Research

Below are a few guidelines regarding mentoring First-Year Scholars:

• Remember that they are in their first year – be nice!
• Keep expectations reasonable
  • the students likely have no background in research, and are not required to in order to be eligible for this program
• Integrate them into existing work and with other team members if applicable (e.g., other faculty mentors on the project, postdocs, grad students, other undergrad researchers)
• Aim for other presentations and/or publications as appropriate
• PIs are not obligated to work with their first-year scholars past May, but we encourage you to continue working with them if the experience has been positive

We appreciate your dedication to student engagement. We hope that you and your student(s) have an amazing year and that the research partnership continues after this first year.

• The OUR will coordinate with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to track Retention, Progression, and Graduation (RPG) rates for participating students.
• Primary Investigators (PIs) and first-year scholars will be surveyed regarding impact on research productivity.

• Hathaway, R. S., Nagda, B. A., & Gregerman, S. R. (2002). The relationship of undergraduate research participation to graduate and professional education pursuit: An empirical study. Journal of College Student Development, 43, 614-631.
• Nagda, B. A., Gregerman, S. R., Jonides, J., von Hippel, W., & Lerner, J. S. (1998). Undergraduate student-faculty research partnerships affect student retention. The Review of Higher Education, 22, 55-72.
• Schneider, K. R., Bickel, A., & Morrison-Shetlar, A. (2015). Planning and implementing a comprehensive student-centered research program for first-year STEM undergraduates. Journal of College Science Teaching, 44(3), 37-43.

• Students must be in their first year of college at KSU.
• Students must be enrolled at KSU with fewer than 30 transfer credits (not including AP and dual enrollment credits).
• Students interested in applying will complete an application on the InfoReady platform.

• International Student payments are taxed at a higher rate, and therefore each payment received will be less than what is noted
• International students on H-4, L-2, R-2, or E-2 dependent visas are not eligible for stipend payments, and therefore cannot be considered for the First-Year Scholars program
  • Visa status must allow for work authorization in order to receive stipend payments
  • Student "volunteers" are not allowed to participate in a program where other students are being compensated for the same work
• The Office of Undergraduate Research recommends students falling into those categories get involved in undergraduate research through the following options:
  • Vertically Integrated Projects Program (VIP)
  • Current Research Projects
  • Undergraduate Research Club

• Before starting on the application, make sure you know the name of the project(s) you'd like to apply to. View the listing of upcoming projects.

To help you prepare for the application, the questions you will be asked in the application portal are listed below:

1. Your name
2. Your KSU email address
3. Your major
4. Title of the project you are applying for (this will be a drop-down menu with each project listed).
   • As this program is competitive, students are encouraged to apply for as many projects as they are interested in and would be happy working on for the academic year.
     • A separate application is required to apply for each project.
   • Please note that in the end, you will only be permitted to work on one (1) project as part of the First-Year Scholars Program
5. Relevant Prior Experience (500 words max).
   • Prior experience is not required, but take into account skills learned from: involvement in clubs, work experience related to this project, internships, previous research experiences [even in a different discipline], coursework related to the project, coursework related to research methodology, coursework on statistics/data analysis, etc.
6. Statement of Interest (500 words max).
   • For example: Why are you interested in this specific project? How do you see this project influencing your college career? What are your career aspirations?
   • We encourage you to tailor this section to the specific project to which you are applying.

• To receive stipend payments each semester, students in the First-Year Scholars Program are expected to:
  • participate in one (1) mandatory orientation session, each semester
  • attend professional development activities hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research, Undergraduate Research Peer Ambassadors, and their campus partners.
    • Approved activities vary for each semester, and all attendance guidelines must be met for credit to be counted
  • complete progress reports, a mid-year survey, and a year-end survey
    • these must be submitted by the stated deadline date in order to be counted
  • The full details are provided on the Accepted Students page, which is constantly updated throughout the program
• To remain in the First-Year Scholars Program in the Spring, students must be enrolled in classes and in good academic standing.
  • Student participation in the Spring is at the discretion of the PI and the Office of Undergraduate Research.
• The project must be presented at the Symposium of Student Scholars in April by all of the matched Scholars, and each Scholar must be an active part of the presentation
  • In order to present, all First-Year Scholars must be listed as a co-author on the project abstract submission
    • The Undergraduate Research Peer Ambassadors will host a workshop on How to Write an Abstract. All students are encouraged to attend.

Students who drop out of the program will not be eligible for funding from the Office of Undergraduate Research for a minimum of one (1) year.

Please email [email protected] for more information.

• Students who would like more information or training about undergraduate research topics are encouraged to read the online resources or watch the online videos.
  • These activities are optional, although mentors may require their students to engage in these activities.