2020-2021 Valente Center
Undergraduate (UG) Student Research Assistantships
Call for Faculty Proposals
Deadline: Friday, August 28, 2020
un· der· grad· u· ate re· search, n. 1. An inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline. (Council on Undergraduate Research)
Purpose
The goal of the Valente Center Student UG Research Assistantship program is to provide motivated Bentley undergraduates with meaningful research experiences alongside faculty mentors. Faculty benefit from student contributions as they work exclusively on research project(s) outlined by faculty members in their applications. Undergraduate research can take many forms, but in general, it teaches research practice as a form of experiential learning. Therefore, the work of student research assistants should reflect the scholarly environment of the university; research assistantships are not work-study positions. In some cases, undergraduate research assistants may work in research teams, but they are not “shared” among faculty members, as is the case with some departmental work-study students. The Valente Center suggests that faculty members present their research results to be published on the Valente Center website at the conclusion of the academic year.
Eligibility
All full-time arts & sciences faculty are eligible for the student research assistantships as well as any full-time faculty members working on interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research projects that incorporate arts & sciences fields.
Undergraduate Research Skills 'Boot Camp' (Continuing in 2020-2021)
With the growth of UG research at Bentley, the Valente Center has teamed with the Honors program to expand resources for students developing research skills. This fall, we will continue to offer the UG Research Skills “Boot Camp” (details TBA) to help prepare undergraduate students for undertaking research with a faculty mentor. The Valente Center for Arts & Sciences is continuing the UG Student Researcher Program for students interested in working on year-long student-motivated research projects. Students may contact Valente Center Director Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts, jeijmberts@bentley.edu for more details. Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts Ph.D for more details.
Funding
Awards are typically made for 80-120 hours of student research time for the academic year. Awards will be made in September for a full academic year, rather than one semester in order to give students and faculty members the time to develop a productive working relationship.
Proposal Requirements (roughly 2-3 pages)
- Name, department and working title of research project
- Brief description of the project and role of an undergraduate research assistant
- Desired skills and interests (e.g., library research skills; web database research skills; foreign languages; familiarity with field or subfield; interview and observational skills; specific software knowledge—spreadsheets, SPSS, etc.)
- Student learning goals (e.g. disciplinary knowledge, research practice, skills)
- Expected timeline of work over the academic year with examples of student tasks
- Number of hours requested, with a maximum of 80-120 hours per year
- Brief plan for supervision and mentoring, including frequency of meetings
- Potential candidates, if you have a specific student in mind please include the student's Bentley ID number.
Student Hiring Process
The Valente Center will post the positions on the student employment page on workday in September and will send an email to students notifying them of this opportunity. The faculty will notify the Valente Center of the student(s) to be hired or the Valente Center will collect the resumes and send to faculty for a decision. After students are hired via workday, the Valente Center will pay them $12.75 per hour for the research work performed. The stipend received from the Valente Center will not affect the financial aid or work-study eligibility of student research assistants, although they will be required to report it as taxable income and may not work more than 20 hours a week during the semesters. All international students require documentation from the social security office to be eligible to work on campus and this requires additional steps in the hiring process.
Application Process and Deadline
Email proposal to the Valente Center by Friday, August 28, 2020.
Decision Process
Email proposal to Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts (jeijmberts@bentley.edu) by Friday, August 28, 2020.
Questions
For eligibility or questions about the scope of research projects, contact Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts.
For student hiring procedures, contact Neelangi Gunasekera.