Mentors play a key role in the success of a student’s participation in the Undergraduate Research Symposium. This means that it’s very important that students keep their mentor(s) informed about the ways they will need to be engaged. We recognize that many students have multiple mentors, including a faculty mentor, graduate student mentors, and mentors that are research staff or post-doctoral researchers. That’s great! Students are required to have at least one faculty mentor but can list additional mentors on their application as well.
Support Abstract and Artist Statements (review and approval)
- Each student will be asked to provide an abstract when they submit their Symposium application. We expect that mentors will support students through the writing process. Students and mentors can use our guidelines to compose abstracts that are thoughtful and appropriate for this event.
- After the student submits their abstract, mentors will be notified of the submission and will receive a link to view the submission.
- All accepted student abstracts will be published in the Symposium Event Schedule. Research mentors will be listed along with their students’ abstracts in the Schedule and will be acknowledged at the presentation sessions.
FAQ
A primary mentor is the individual who approves a student’s application title and abstract/artist statement.
A primary mentor is required to be the most senior research advisor in the project: a professor or principal investigator (PI). For example, as a primary mentor, you might have one of the following titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Associate Professor
- Professor
- Research Professor
- Teaching Professor
- Professor of Clinical Practice
Mentors that have one of the following titles cannot be a primary mentor for the application, but can be a secondary mentor: Lecturer, Instructor, Post-Doc, Grad Student, Fellow, PhD Student, Research Scientist, Staff Scientist, or staff member.
How do I know my title?
To confirm your title, please consult your WorkDay job title, confirm with your supervisor, or consult the Office of Academic Human Resources or Human Resources of your respective institution.
All student applicants are required to list their primary mentor’s name and email address in their application. Once your student has submitted their application, all listed mentors will receive an email notifying them of the submission. The email should contain a link to view the application.
If your student’s submitted project title and/or application requires edits, please contact your student directly. They will have the opportunity to update their application with these edits during a Revision Window that will open in mid-March. View all application steps here.
Supporting Presentations
We expect that mentors will help students prepare their presentations. This may include mapping out poster design, helping a student practice their oral presentation or performance, or helping the student think through appropriate materials for a design presentation. Many students practice their presentations and get feedback during research team meetings, for example.
FAQ
In the weeks before the Symposium, Office of Undergraduate Research will publish the Symposium Schedule on our website, which will allow you to search for your students, find out the times/locations of the presentations, and print a pdf of their abstracts. View the schedules from previous Symposia.
Volunteer
We hope that mentors will consider volunteering at the Symposium! Each oral presentation session will have a faculty moderator. Please email us at undergradresearch@uw.edu if your faculty mentor is willing to moderate a session. We do our best to ensure faculty can moderate the session that their mentee is presenting in. We hope that additional mentors, including graduate students, will consider volunteering as session assistants or in other important volunteer roles.
View our volunteer opportunities here.