The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, in collaboration with TRIO/Student Support Services, is seeking faculty mentors for the First Year Research Experience cohort for 2024-25. Our mentors enjoy the opportunity to build a long-term relationship with students who are genuinely interested in the university’s land-grant research mission.
In the inaugural FYRE cohort in 2019-20, first-year undergraduate student Alyssa Simpson was matched with Professor Xia Hong of Physics. Since then, Simpson has consistently participated in undergraduate research through McNair Scholars, Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences, National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates, and more. Simpson has received multiple awards for research presentations, including Student Research Days poster awards in March 2022 and March 2023.
Simpson’s success illustrates the long-term positive impact of beginning undergraduate research engagement in the first year. According to the American Association of Colleges and Universities, undergraduate research and first-year experiences are both considered high-impact practices for undergraduate education. The FYRE program unites the benefits of undergraduate research mentorship with a comprehensive first-year transition experience, including personalized advising, skill development workshops, and participation in Huskerwork, a series of professional development learning modules developed by Career Services.
The FYRE program allows eligible first-year students to use their federal work-study funds (or comparable support from the TRIO/SSS program) in a research or creative activities work position, enabling students to get paid to learn. The program will match interested first-year students with faculty mentors to learn about research and creative activity in the mentor’s field by spending five to ten hours a week on a manageable project over the course of the year.
Like Professor Hong, FYRE faculty mentors are committed to student success and are interested in designing and guiding research or creative projects specifically for first-time, first-year undergraduates. If you are committed to student success through high-impact learning practices like undergraduate research, and are interested in developing projects and opportunities for first-year students, consider submitting a job description. There is no financial commitment necessary from faculty mentors, just a willingness to supervise the student and project.
Job descriptions from interested faculty mentors for 2024-25 are due June 3 and can be submitted online. Sample job descriptions from the current year are available in the FYRE Experience Directory.
Contact Kali Patterson, project coordinator, at ucare@unl.edu with any questions.
More details at: https://ucare.unl.edu/