Deadline: Friday, January 19, 2024
 

The goal of the Valente Center Student Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program is to provide motivated Bentley undergraduate students 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. 

Funding 

Awards will be made per semester (and summer term) call for application, at max two consecutive periods per application and max 120 hours per application awarded. 
Note: if you applied in the Fall and have been awarded funding throughout the Spring semester, there is no need to reapply.

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: We encourage faculty to identify former or current students who share their interest and work ethic, as these matches prove to be most successful. If you have a specific student in mind, please include the named student's Bentley ID number and email address.
 

Student Hiring Process 
Per guidance from Bentley University we can only recruit and hire students that reside in the US. 
The Valente Center will post the positions on the student employment page on workday in May 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 post the positions and share any collected resumes for a decision. After students are hired via workday, the Valente Center will pay them $15 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 for the academic year.

Application Process and Deadline
Email proposal to Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts (jeijmberts@bentley.edu) by Friday, January 19, 2024. 

Decision Process 
Applications will be reviewed and final decisions made by the Valente Center Advisory Board in consultation with the director. Notifications will be made ASAP in early September. 

Questions 
For eligibility or questions about the scope of research projects, contact Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts (jeijmberts@bentley.edu ).
For student hiring procedures, contact Alyson Becker (alysonbecker@bentley.edu)