Campus News

Summer faculty mentors

The Graduate School invites UGA faculty to participate in the 2005 Summer Undergraduate Research Program.

SURP offers outstanding undergraduates from historically underrepresented groups the chance to work closely with faculty in an intensive summer research experience. Students get first-hand exposure to the experiences of graduate school and faculty life while they work with faculty whose research is closely related to their academic ­interests and career goals. Students work under faculty mentorship either individually or as part of a research team. Research teams may include graduate students, research scientists and other SURP students. Another objective of the program is to encourage SURP participants to pursue graduate degrees at UGA.

The program provides participants with a $4,000 stipend to perform 40 hours of research per week for eight weeks (during summer semester, June 5-Aug. 4). Modest funding of up to $400 for supplies and related expenses is available for faculty mentors for their students’ research. This year a small allowance will cover photocopy usage.

Faculty are expected to serve as a mentor, along with their graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, while providing a learning environment for participants of SURP. SURP students are expected to write a paper and ­present a poster describing their research project at the end of the ­research experience.

SURP participants have traditionally had backgrounds in the natural ­sciences, the physical sciences, ­mathematics and computer science, but students with interests in other disciplines, such as the humanities, social science and business, are now included in the ­program.

Mentorship forms are available from Curtis Boyd, Office of Graduate Recruitment and Retention, 508 Boyd GSRC (cdbyrd@uga.edu).