Faculty-Student Team Fellowships
Program Description

2009 Program Dates
June 1 - August 8
Application Deadline- February 15

Faculty-Student Team Research Fellowships are awarded to undergraduates and an accompanying faculty member from the same institution. This ten-week program, offered during the summer months, is designed to provide unique research experiences for faculty and students from four-year, tribal, and community colleges, as well as junior faculty at research universities thereby enhancing their undergraduate-based research efforts and gaining fresh exposure to specific areas of materials research. Faculty have the option of being in residence for 2-10 weeks. This program strengthens the bond between the college instructor and undergraduate, prepares students for informed career decisions, creates permanent faculty contacts at participating colleges, and provides a vehicle for introducing MS&E into college curricula. Each team performs research in a UMN MRSEC research group from Engineered Multiblock Polymers, Organic Optoelectronic Interfaces, Magnetic Heterostructures, and Nanoparticle-based Materials IRGs, or one of the various MRSEC Seed groups. Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis. Criteria for the awards include the quality of the proposed work, the appropriateness of the proposed work to the activities and capabilities of the MRSEC, and the endorsement of the team by a MRSEC faculty collaborator.

As a required part of the program, faculty members of these teams also extend their mentorship to the undergraduates in other teams, Native American fellows, and the REU participants through weekly seminar meetings and informal group sessions. Visiting faculty also work with REU participants in developing presentation skills or with RET participants where appropriate. In addition to their individual research with MRSEC groups, the team students join the other undergraduates in the summer program - tribal college students and REU students - in numerous common activities aimed at heightening their awareness of science and engineering careers and enhancing skills, including practical ones that are often overlooked, but important for their professional development. This is achieved through weekly workshops and courses offered during the ten-week program, including:

• laboratory safety and handling hazardous waste
• how to keep a laboratory notebook
• how to prepare a research abstract
• how to present a research seminar
• how to construct a research poster
• how to write a technical report
• a writing workshop by Dr. Steve Wilbers, an adjunct faculty and Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist
• GRE prep course
• how to prepare a curriculum vitae
• a presentation to the MRSEC investigators and summer participants and a poster at the annual MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Expo- an event that assembles students from IT disciplines to present their summer research to fellow students, faculty, and invited representatives from industry.
• Presentations by MRSEC faculty that effectively provide an overview of Center-wide research and purpose.

Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis. Criteria for the awards include the quality of the proposed work, the appropriateness of the proposed work to the activities and capabilities of the MRSEC, and the endorsement of the team by a MRSEC faculty collaborator. Monthly stipends will be provided for all fellowship recipients. Students are provided with housing on the University of Minnesota campus. Visiting four-year college faculty are eligible for a housing subsidy and travel expenses.

Note from National Science Foundation (NSF) Regarding Eligible Student Participants: Undergraduate student participants supported with NSF funds in either Supplements or Sites must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possessions.
Each member of the Student/Faculty Team must submit an application.
*Note- this is a change from previous years

In addition to completion of the appropriate web-based application form below, the following must be submitted by February 15: