Program Overview
Program Timeline
Eligibility and Award Conditions
Submit an Apprenticeship
Working with a Research Apprentice
FAQs
Program Overview
The SHARE Virtual Summer Apprenticeship program provides early career undergraduates majoring in social sciences, humanities, or arts fields with an opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor on a research project over the summer. These meaningful learning experiences allow students to develop foundational research skills that they can build on as they progress through their academic career, as well as to establish mentoring relationships with faculty in their discipline.
Research apprentices commit to working on a faculty mentor’s project over the course of the summer, with project weeks and hours per week to be determined by the faculty mentor. All project work will be conducted remotely. Research apprentices earn up to $1,400, paid as hourly wages, and faculty mentors receive a $500 professional development award in recognition of their mentorship. To earn the full $1,400 award, apprentices will need to work 92 hours over the course of the summer.
Examples of SHARE apprentice duties may include, but are not limited to: conducting literature reviews, assisting in designing a study or experiment, coding and/or analyzing data, and conducting and/or transcribing interviews.
Program Timeline
- Tuesday, January 17, 2023 – Faculty apprenticeship submission form opens.
- Friday, February 24, 2023 – Deadline for faculty to submit an apprenticeship description.
- Monday, February 27, 2023 – Faculty participation in the SHARE Summer program will be confirmed.
- Early March 2023 – Apprenticeship descriptions will be posted on the SHARE Summer Apprenticeship website and applications open to students.
- Friday, March 24, 2023 – Deadline for students to apply for apprenticeships.
- Monday, March 27, 2023 – Applications will be shared with faculty mentors. Faculty review applications and begin interviewing select candidates (interviews are optional).
- Friday, April 7, 2023 – Faculty are asked to provide the OUR with a ranking of top applicants no later than this date. OUR will extend offers to student apprentices, including faculty mentors on the notifications.
Apprentices can begin project work once the spring semester has ended (no earlier than May 5, 2023) and the apprentice has completed all required employment paperwork.
Faculty mentors will be asked to complete an online monthly checklist indicating which tasks the student apprentice has worked on during the previous month, and a student apprentice assessment form at the conclusion of the apprenticeship.
Eligibility and Award Conditions
Faculty mentor eligibility and award conditions:
- Faculty mentors must be full-time faculty in social sciences, humanities, or arts fields at any UConn campus.
- Faculty must be available to virtually mentor the student apprentice over the summer and provide a substantive learning experience that allows students to develop foundational research skills and gain a greater understanding of the research process.
- Please note: research apprentices should not be expected to engage in any in-person work; all research activities should be conducted remotely.
- This program is intended to foster new student-faculty connections. Faculty mentors agree to select a student they are not currently working with and/or have not previously worked with in a research capacity.
- Faculty mentors agree to provide sufficient tasks and duties for the student apprentice to earn their full award (92 hours of work) and to complete a monthly checklist indicating which tasks the student apprentice has worked on.
- This program prioritizes early career students with little or no prior research experience. We encourage faculty to keep this experience level in mind when considering the ways in which an apprentice can contribute to their research, and to factor in time for training and mentorship to prepare the apprentice to successfully complete assigned research activities.
- For their commitment to mentoring the student apprentice, faculty mentors will receive a $500 professional development award at the start of the summer.
- Please note, the professional development funding will be transferred to the ledger 2 KFS account provided by the faculty mentor. Please consult with your fiscal officer about your school or college’s fiscal close procedures; typically, these funds will need to be spent by June 2023, prior to the close of the current fiscal year.
- Faculty mentors agree to provide oversight and feedback to the student on their work throughout the project and to complete a student apprentice assessment form at the end of the semester to offer feedback on the student’s performance and contribution to the project.
- Faculty mentors will ensure the student apprentice is adequately trained and added to any pertinent research compliance protocols.
- For projects involving human subjects, documentation of IRB approval or of a completed IRB protocol submission must be submitted to OUR prior to the start of the apprenticeship. Please plan your IRB timeline accordingly.
Student apprentice eligibility and award conditions:
- Students must be majoring or pre-majoring in social sciences, humanities, or arts fields at any UConn campus.
- This program prioritizes early career students with little to no prior research experience, students from underrepresented backgrounds, 1st generation students, and those with financial need. Eligibility is limited to undergraduates in their first, second, and third year of study.
- Students must be in good academic standing at the time of application and must remain in good academic standing while participating in the program.
- Students must be eligible for on-campus employment.
- Students agree to complete a reflection at the start of the apprenticeship and at mid-point, and to submit an end-of-summer reflection to the Office of Undergraduate Research at the conclusion of the apprenticeship.
- Students agree to present at the Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Poster Exhibition the in the fall or spring semester following their apprenticeship.
Submit an Apprenticeship
UConn faculty in social science, humanities, or arts disciplines who are interested in mentoring early career undergraduate researchers this summer are invited to submit an opportunity to be included in this program.
To participate in this program, please complete the Summer 2023 SHARE Virtual Apprenticeship Description Form.
The submission form will close on Friday, February 24, 2023.
Please Note: Depending on faculty interest, we may not be able to support all submitted research apprenticeships. Should we receive more faculty requests than we can accommodate, the decision not to include the opportunity in this program will be communicated to faculty by OUR staff.
The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) will use the information you provide to develop an opportunity description and the application for your apprenticeship. View the summer 2021 and 2022 apprenticeships in the opportunity archive to see what information is included in the descriptions.
Students can begin applying in early March 2023. Student applications will close on Friday, March 24, 2023.
You will review the applications submitted for your research apprenticeship, identify and interview candidates, and then provide OUR with a prioritized ranking of your preferred candidates no later than Friday, April 07, 2023.
OUR will extend the offers to students and oversee the acceptance process.
Working with a Research Apprentice
A SHARE summer apprentice can support your work in a variety of ways while also deepening their understanding of the research or creative process. The research skills apprentices develop, the exposure to an area or topic of interest, and the valuable mentorship they receive can serve as a foundation for sustained participation in research.
The list below highlights some activities and tasks that a research apprentice can assist with.
Meetings, Observation, and Training:
- Attend lab/research team/research group meetings
- Observe faculty mentor conducting a project-related task
- Receive instruction on how to execute a task (such as training on software, equipment, or other tools) and practice executing this task
- Provide project-related training to others
Design and Administration:
- Help design a study or experiment (including materials, stimuli, protocol, or instrument development)
- Complete administrative tasks related to the project (e.g., schedule participant appointments, prepare assessment materials for use with participants). Please note that the opportunity should not be exclusively administrative in nature.
Literature Search and Review:
- Search for or locate relevant sources
- Review and summarize literature/sources
- Synthesize literature/sources in a literature review or other format
Data Collection and Analysis:
- Collect, record, and/or process data or information
- Engage in qualitative data analysis (e.g., code interview transcripts)
- Engage in quantitative data analysis (e.g., run correlational analysis on a data set)
Academic Communication and Engagement:
- Prepare figures, graphs, tables, or other visual communication elements
- Provide feedback/comments on a piece of academic writing/output (e.g., article, book chapter, policy memo, grant proposal, poster)
- Write some of all of a piece of academic writing/output (e.g., article, book chapter, policy memo, grant proposal, poster)
- Attend/participate in a talk, presentation, conference, or other academic event
- Make a project-related presentation to an audience
FAQs
Can I work with more than one SHARE Summer Virtual Apprentice?
I already have a student in mind; can I select him/her?
A student I’m already working with would like to continue over the summer. Can they receive funding through this program?
Why do I need to use my $500 professional development award by June?
Who should I contact with questions about the SHARE Virtual Summer Apprenticeships?
Can I work with more than one SHARE Summer Virtual Apprentice?
We anticipate being able to support no more than one apprentice per faculty mentor. Depending on the number of faculty who express interest in working with an apprentice, OUR may be able to support a second apprentice.
I already have a student in mind; can I select him/her?
The goal of this program is to foster new student-faculty connections. Students who meet the eligibility requirements, and whom you have not already worked with on a research project, can apply for your apprenticeship. In fairness to all applicants, we ask that faculty mentors give equal consideration to all candidates, including those who you have not previously spoken with.
A student I’m already working with would like to continue over the summer. Can they receive funding through this program?
The goal of this program is to foster new student-faculty connections and to provide students with little or no prior research experience an opportunity to get valuable exposure to the research process. As part of the award conditions, we ask faculty mentors to select a student they are not currently working with and/or have not previously worked with in a research capacity.
Why do I need to use my $500 professional development award before the fiscal year-end closing in June?
The SHARE funding is ledger 2 funding; per University policy and practice, ledger 2 funding not used prior to the close of the fiscal year will be swept back into central accounts. The $500 professional development award will be transferred to the KFS ledger 2 account that faculty mentors indicate when accepting their awards. Fund transfers are anticipated to take place by the end of April. It is up to faculty to work with their department or school/college fiscal manager to ensure that funding is spent prior to fiscal year-end deadlines.
Who should I contact with questions about the SHARE Virtual Summer Apprenticeships?
Questions about the SHARE Virtual Summer Apprenticeships should be directed to Melissa Berkey (melissa.berkey@uconn.edu) in the Office of Undergraduate Research.