Mentor Information

Finding a Scholar to Mentor

Students interested in becoming Summer Scholars are asked to meet with prospective Faculty Mentors well in advance of the application deadline.     

    Posting Opportunities: If you would like to post an opportunity about which you would like potential applicants to contact you, please send a brief description, including title, and your preferred method of contact to anne.moore@tufts.edu.

    Renewing a previous posting from the online database: The use of the online database for postings has been discontinued. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. (Please also note that the minimum length for projects is now 10 weeks.)

    Opportunities already associated with an applicant: If you are already working with an applicant, you need not provide the above information for posting on this site. However, you may choose to do so if you would like additional students to contact you regarding the opportunity.

Faculty/Clinical Mentor Application Procedure

All student applicants must provide a Letter of Collaboration as part of their application packet. This letter should be written jointly and signed by both of you. You may write a Letter of Collaboration with more than one applicant; however, only one Scholar will be funded for any one Mentor.

Expectations for Faculty/Clinical Mentors

A core component of the program is the joint commitment between faculty/clinical mentors and students during the research process. Faculty/clinical mentors guide and monitor the design and progress of the project and serve as a key resource for Tufts Summer Scholars.

Faculty/clinical mentors are expected to fulfill the following criteria:

• Provide active mentorship to student scholars, including frequent contact, sharing knowledge and resources, guidance, and timely feedback and assessment.
• Complete evaluations of the student research and mentoring experience and the Tufts Summer Scholars Program.
• Support the program by advising prospective faculty/clinical mentors.
• Actively participate in the Tufts Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium.
• Actively participate in any poster sessions held by the Program

Active mentorship may include any or all of the following activities:

• Help the student explore his or her interests and determine an appropriate match with research location and research topic
• Identify the knowledge, experience, and skills (discipline-based, language, and cultural) that the student will need to undertake the project, and develop a plan with the student for developing these
• Define and focus the project, including the development of a timetable and milestones to ensure that the project can be managed within the time frame of the program
• Discuss and identify the resources that will be available at the research site and help the student arrange communication with contacts at the research site
• Communicate frequently with the student during the summer research
• Assist student in determining a forum/conference in which to share her/his research experience and findings
• Send a monthly progress report to the program

NOTE: Students may participate in faculty/clinical mentors’ research. However, they should not serve merely as research assistants but should be given a specific research problem or question to investigate on their own with the advice and assistance from their faculty/clinical mentor. It is important that students have the opportunity to participate in all aspects of the professional research from the design and development of the project to the analysis and conclusions.

Amount of Award

• $3,500 living stipend
• $1,000 student research budget
  • Used on materials, travel, and other research expenses; a preliminary student research budget plan is asked for in the application.
  • The student's research budget can be used during the summer of research or to support related research that might follow, such as a senior thesis or another kind of independent project. Receipts for reimbursement should be brought to Dowling 710 and given to Joanne Ferguson.
• $1,000 in research funds for the supporting faculty/clinical mentor
  • The funds will be transferred directly into the mentor's research account, if tenure-stream. More details on this process will follow.
  • If a scholar or faculty/clinical mentor is unable to carry out the research project approved by the Scholarship Committee, both parties will be expected to forfeit the financial grant.