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The UMass Center for Justice, Law and Societies and SBS RISE (Remedying Inequity through Student Engagement) has extended the application deadline for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship to Friday, Feb. 6. Open to tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty from any school or college at UMass Amherst, the fellowship will be granted to three recipients who will each receive $5,000 of summer funding to mentor a student researcher in SBS RISE, a program serving SBS undergraduate students who identify as first-generation, BIPOC, and/or are from low-income families with a primary or secondary SBS major.

With support from CJLS and SBS RISE, an undergraduate research fellow will conduct original research with a faculty member, providing exposure to research design, methodology and publication. Prior to the start of the summer, faculty mentors participate in a peer mentoring meeting with mentors from previous years. The undergraduate fellows are also supported by a graduate student mentor during the summer. Finally, faculty and student teams will present their research and mentorship experiences at a campus lunch symposium in the fall semester. 

To further support faculty for their commitment to quality mentorship, at the end of the summer, $1,000 of additional research funding will be provided to the faculty member to use as they wish.

Interested faculty members should have a concrete project that one undergraduate student can help complete over the course of the summer, with funding to support a 30-hour per week commitment for approximately 11 weeks. Students who are interested in this research opportunity will also undergo an application process. Selected students must be SBS undergraduate students during the fall after completing the research program. 

Through the online application, faculty members should submit a project abstract, a detailed description of what the tasks for the undergraduate will be, and a clear and thorough mentoring plan. Each application section should be no more than 3,000 characters. Applications will be evaluated on the appropriateness of the project’s expectations and responsibilities for an undergraduate, the match between the project and the fellowship goals, and the quality of the mentoring plan. 

For questions or more information, contact Jamie Rowen, director of the UMass Center for Justice, Law, and Societies, at [email protected], or Felicia Griffin-Fennell, director of SBS RISE, at [email protected].