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Undergraduate Research Mentor Workshops

At the Office of Undergraduate Research, we recognize that a successful undergraduate research opportunity is predicated on high-quality mentorship.

We are dedicated to continuing to improve the undergraduate research experience through the creation of mentor opportunities that aim to help promote positive research experiences for both mentors and students. We are excited to offer various sessions, listed below, to support your mentoring practice.

Session 1

Engaging Undergraduates in Research: Getting to Know Your Campus Resources

Are you a UW faculty member, staff member, postdoctoral researcher, or graduate student looking to engage undergraduates in research? Join us for this one-hour introduction to what undergraduate research looks like at UW and how to become a mentor. Mentors will leave this session with a collection of tools and strategies for recruiting, compensating, and supporting undergraduates in research experiences. This session is particularly useful for those who are new to UW but we welcome anyone at UW who plans to work with undergraduates in a research context. This session is offered each autumn term.

Those who attend this session will:

  1. Learn effective and equitable strategies for recruiting undergraduate researchers.
  2. Learn about undergraduate research funding opportunities, including funded programs, research scholarships, and conference travel support for undergraduates.
  3. Explore other ways to compensate undergraduates for their work (e.g. Federal Work Study, course credit, etc.).
  4. Learn about UW’s Undergraduate Research Symposium and how to prepare students to present.
  5. Learn how to get students in your courses excited about participating in research.
  6. Discover ways to connect with undergraduates interested in research.
  7. Gain access to additional resources for effective and inclusive mentorship.
  8. Build relationships with Office of Undergraduate Research staff who can support you in grant development, program and curricular design, and other topics.

Our fall 2023 sessions were a huge success! If you would like to request a recording of our virtual session, please fill out this brief form.

Session 2

Engaging Undergraduates in Research: Bringing an Equity Lens to Your Mentorship Practice

This session is open to UW faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, or graduate students looking to center their mentorship practice in intentional strategies that promote equity and inclusion. Office of Undergraduate Research staff will provide some foundational theory around equity and inclusion as it relates to research spaces, create room for discussion and exploration with colleagues about personal experiences and perspectives, and help ground theory in practice as we make room for attendees to leave with practical tools to implement in their mentoring practices.

Those who attend this session will:

  1. Understand impact and importance of mentoring relationships to mentee and mentors 
  2. Examine student barriers to research experiences while considering nuances of student identity and intersectionality
  3. Formulate strategies to value diverse forms of cultural capital in research environments using the community cultural wealth model and anti-deficit thinking
  4. Identify equity and inclusion-based practices that impact recruitment and selection

This session will be offered on January 11 from 10-12 PM in Mary Gates Hall 171 and space will be limited to the first 30 who register. An email and calendar event will be sent out to confirm your participation once we have finalized the cohort. We will also be establishing a waitlist for this event.

Register for the session!

This training series has been in development since 2018 and was influenced by various existing resources including trainings from Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER); Mentoring Enrichment And Leadership Development Institute (MELDI); National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine (NASEM); and the work of Drs. Buffie Longmire-Avital and Jenny Shanahan.