Provost's summer research program unveiled

As part of its new Undergraduate Research Initiative, the Provost's office announced the creation of a Summer Scholars program that will provide support to students who participate in summer research with professors.

The new program offers 30 undergraduates a $3,500 stipend to work on research for at least eight weeks during the summer. An additional $1,000 will be given to offset research costs, an e-mail sent to undergraduates last week announced.

Participants will work with a faculty advisor from Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; Tufts graduate schools; or hospitals or clinics affiliated with the University. The participants must use the research opportunity to produce a final project or senior thesis.

The opportunities for research apply to almost all Tufts departments. "People get the wrong idea that research is only for those in the sciences -- or graduate students and professors," said junior Mitchell Lunn, one of the program's creators.

In order to receive one of the grants, students must first choose one of the opportunities posted by faculty on the Summer Scholars website, http://summerscholars.programs.tufts.edu. Research opportunities are already being posted on the website, and applications are due April 18.

Prospective applicants must then approach the faculty member to ask for an invitation to apply for the project. "The application process is unique," Lunn said.

After receiving an invitation, students must fill out an online application consisting of two personal essays on how the research will impact their knowledge base and methodological training. Two faculty letters of recommendation are also required, including one from the sponsor of the research opportunity.

A selection committee composed of representatives of Art and Sciences, Engineering, and Tufts grad schools then decides who will receive the awards.

The application process is expected to be highly competitive. "It's going to be a big thing. Being a Summer Scholar is really going to mean something to people," Lunn said. There have been over a hundred inquiries into the program.

The Summer Scholars program is the result of nearly a year's work by the Provost's office, the Dean of the Colleges for Undergraduate Education's office, and the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience.

Lunn worked extensively with Dean of the Colleges Charles Inouye to help create the program after speaking with him about an Omidiyar Scholarship project. "Dean Inouye then brought the issue of undergraduate research to the Task Force," Lunn said.

The Task Force then recommended further opportunities for undergraduate research in its January report, specifically the creation of the Summer Scholars program.

Once the recommendations were released, the Provost's office began to work with Lunn and Inouye to fund and create the project.

In his e-mail to students, Provost Jamshed Bharucha outlined the importance of "providing research opportunities that enable students to collaborate with professors and take part in the process of discovery and creation."

Both faculty and students expressed strong support for the program, according to Task Force Chair Gilbert Metcalf. "There was broad support among faculty and students. "A university is a place where research is done and new knowledge is created so the summer scholars program is a natural fit," he said.

The summer research program fits what some see as a hole in undergraduate education at Tufts. "Seventy percent of incoming undergraduate students expect to do research by the time they graduate, but the numbers that actually do are much less," Metcalf said. "What are the barriers? Earning money in the summer is one."

The program will give rising seniors a head start on their senior thesis. "I can stay here this summer; make some money, but also forward my education. I definitely plan on applying," junior Greg Gale said.