Tiered Mentoring Introduction

Choose Ohio First - Tiered Mentoring

Introduction

Welcome to the home page for the Tiered Mentoring program! This program is aimed at providing hands-on research experience to undergraduate students at the University of Akron, Baldwin-Wallace College, Stark State Technical College and Lorain County Community College. We are specifically targeting students who may feel uncertain about whether they want to continue in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program or not. Too often, the introductory courses for STEM disciplines are unable to provide interested students the excitement of hands-on research, and thus many students decide the STEM disciplines are "not for them." Studies have shown that many of these students decide to "stick it out" through these early courses and go on to earn their STEM degrees if they have an early experience with a research group. Such opportunities allow students to become part of the research process and feel more connected to their disciplines after their experiences. Thus, hands-on research has proven to be an important tool to motivate STEM students (or students interested in STEM fields) to continue their degrees when they might otherwise not have.

The tiered mentoring program goes one step beyond the above noted "traditional" research experience. As the name -"tiered mentoring" - implies, our program is designed for the students to be both "mentees" as well as "mentors." Each student is encouraged to participate for a minimum of two summers in the same lab. In the first summer, the student is the "mentee" and learns the various aspects of the research and how to fit into the research group. In the second summer, the student becomes the "mentor" for the "newbies" coming in the following year. Having the experience of mentoring newer students really shows the "mentor" students how much they have learned and gives them the confidence that they can succeed in their STEM area.

Incoming tiered mentoring students will be paired with a graduate student, a faculty mentor and a tiered mentoring student from the previous year (in years 2-5). The faculty member and graduate student will direct the overall research project, and initially will provide a good deal of instruction to the tiered mentoring student. As time progresses, the tiered mentoring student will become more and more independent as they evolve into their own role within the research group. The overall development of the tiered mentoring student should follow four general levels (adapted from Miller, 2002): (1) undergraduates with limited experience will depend on the faculty/graduate student for direction, (2) with experience the undergraduates will move toward independence with the faculty/graduate student mentors as their guide; (3) faculty, graduate student and undergraduates will become collaborators, all making contributions to the research endeavor; and finally (4) the faculty, graduate student and undergraduate will learn from each other as colleagues.

Tiered Mentoring Research Projects – 2010

 Below are research statements of some of the students participating in the 26 STEM projects in the 2010 Tiered Mentoring program. 

Research Projects (Click on title to get a short synopsis by the students involved with the research)

2011 Tiered Mentoring / Integrated Bioscience Joint Poster Session

The third annual Tiered Mentoring / Integrated Bioscience poster session will be held on Wednesday Oct. 26^th from 4-6pm in the atrium of the new Biology Department (across from the Student Union).  Refreshments will be served.
Click here to read selected abstracts of the research groups participating in this year’s poster session. 

UA Research Opportunities

• Algae as a Renewable Biodiesel Fuel
• Flame Propagation of Aerosol Fuels
• Tracking Coyote Populations in the CVNP
• Modeling Biofilms
• Cell Growth on Silicon Wafers
• Insect Pollination in Wetlands Plants
• Assessing Reproductive Types in Fossil Crustaceans
• Assessing Cancer-Reducing Compounds
• Gecko toe pad adhesion
• Genetics of the milfoil weevil, Euhrychiopsis lecontei
• Water Quality in the Barberton Reservoir
• Artificial Wound-Healing and Polymer-Facilitated Cell Growth
• Robot Design
• Using Spider Silk for Medical Adhesives
• Leptin Expression in Fish
• Perfecting Bio-diesel as a Fuel Source  

Co-op Research Opportunities

• Outcome Database for Fetal Abnormalities - Akron Children's Hospital
• Hemolysis Testing - Cleveland Clinic

How to Participate in the Tiered Mentoring Program

The first thing to do for an interested participant in the T.M. Program is to view our page outlining the various research projects you could participate in. It would be wise to link to the professor's (on campus research) or research managers (off campus research) web page to get more information on the professor/manager and his/her research program (click on the names of each professor/manager to link to their web page). You might also wish to email the professor/manager before you make your choice of which you would like to work with (email addresses are on each professor's web page).

There are two types of research opportunities: (1) on-campus research with professors and graduate students or (2) off-campus research opportunities through either co-ops or internships. There are two options for the on-campus research: (a) research at the University of Akron or (b) research at Baldwin-Wallace. Students from any of the participating institutions can participate in a research group at either campus, as long as the research professor accepts you into his/her lab (see below). Students will sign up for some number of independent research credits (credits depend on time commitments, and commonly range from 1-4 total credits for the summer) in the department they are interested in and then work either at their own or another campus to do their research project. Time commitments for research are negotiated with the research advisor and are quite flexible in most situations. The UA research opportunity will come with a $1500 supply budget for student research, allowing the student to pursue a wide range of research topics that may not usually be available to them because of cost. [Please note - the $1,500 budget assumes a 2-3 month time commitment; projects that are shorter than this will be allocated a concomitantly smaller supply budget.] For the co-op/internships, students will work off-campus with a research group. The off-campus research is sometimes paid and other times volunteer (the above research outline page notes which co-op/internship opportunities are paid and which are not). UA students will need to sign up for a co-op with Dr. Weeks, which is a credit/non-credit "course" that has zero credit hours and costs $55/summer to sign up for. BW students must contact Dr. Jacqueline Morris to determine the procedure to participate in co-op/internships through BW.

After identifying the research groups you are interested in, you need to fill out an application form. On that form, you can identify up to 5 research mentors you would be interested in working with. (If you list >1 faculty member, please rank your interest for each professor.) The application form requires you to input some basic information about yourself (e.g., GPA, awards/scholarships, work experience, etc.) and asks that you write a 1-page outline of why you are interested in working with the research group(s) you have identified. This may be the only information that the faculty mentors have to decide whether they will accept you into their lab or not, so writing a well thought out application will greatly increase your odds of being chosen to be in this program! If the professor needs more information from you, he/she may contact you personally (so make sure you give them an email address that you check regularly!).

Send your completed applications to Dr. Steve Weeks. You can either FAX the application (330-972-8445), scan and email it (scw@uakron.edu) or drop it off in the Biology Department mail room in Dr. Weeks' mailbox (ASEC Biology, Rm. D401)

The deadline for applying is February 15, 2012. 

Once all the applications have been received, they will be circulated among the various professors/ research managers who will determine whether an applicant is appropriate for a particular research group. The faculty will rank their acceptable applicants and then the students will be offered a position by March 1, 2012. Each student will negotiate with each professor/research manager the starting date, the number of hours per week, and the date range for their particular research involvement.

If you have any further questions about this program, please contact Dr. Steve Weeks (330-972-7156).

References:

Miller, A. (2002) Mentoring students & young people: A handbook of effective practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, Inc.

 

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