We fully understand that faculty mentors need to be away for part(s) of the summer, for a variety of purposes. In those circumstances, we suggest that you designate an associate in your lab for the day-to-day mentoring/supervision of the URCF student and her research. Also, while you are away, please arrange to remain in email or phone contact with the URCF student and her designated mentor. In this way, you should be able to continue to provide the mentoring needed for the URCF program.

As a prospective mentor, you will need to submit research project description(s) by early December; the project description(s) will be posted on the URCF website for prospective applicants to view and make their selections. Descriptions may be fairly general, outlining the different types of research conducted in your lab, or describe a specific research project to be carried out. The former method is helpful if you have different types of projects for students, and also allows you to match a student the project that best fits her skill set and interests. The latter method is better if you have a set of fairly well-defined research goals. The link to submit project descriptions can be found here: https://urcf.ceas5.uc.edu/projects. To take a look at previous project descriptions, please go here: urcf.ceas5.uc.edu/rewu.php

URCF students receive a research stipend of $4,500 for 40 hours of research effort each week during the 12-week program. $2,250 of this is provided by the URCF Program (through the Office of the Provost). Faculty mentors are expected to provide matching funds totaling $2,250 to cover the remaining costs. These matching funds may be provided by either the mentor or the department head or a combination of these sources. In some cases a faculty member may wish to mentor a student that has applied to, but is not accepted to the URCF program. In these cases the student may participate in URCF if the faculty mentor is able to provide the full funding amount ($4,500)

Students are required to schedule meetings with potential faculty mentors (please to your best to accommodate these requests). This is an opportunity for both students and mentors to determine if the project is a good fit. When the application period closes you will be asked to provide your impressions of the students you meet with, and will also be asked to rank the students, indicating which student(s) you prefer to mentor. The URCF committee reviews applications to determine which applicants will be admitted to the program. At that point students are matched with faculty mentors based on research interests, qualifications, and mentor/student rankings. In some cases a student may not be assigned to her top choice for mentor, and mentors may be not matched with their top choice for student.