The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs is seeking applications from faculty or staff interested in serving as Undergraduate Research Development Fellows for 2019.

Building on the groundwork laid by the 2018 fellowship, this year’s Fellow(s) will continue to expand undergraduate participation in research and creative scholarship (UGR) by providing leadership and coordination in one or several ongoing areas of need:

1. Serving as point of contact and ambassador for on- and off-campus research UGR information and opportunities for current and prospective students
2. Creating, updating, and enhancing UGR information materials, branding, and stories for use by UM personnel involved in student recruiting or UM storytelling
3. Gathering and disseminating information to UM students and employees about opportunities, resources, and activities for undergraduate experiential learning. Means of dissemination may include the following or others:
   1. planning and conducting information sessions
   2. updating content on the Undergraduate Research website (http://ugr.olemiss.edu), to include listing more UGR and internship opportunities on- and off-campus for students and faculty to apply to
   3. facilitating the use of the Undergraduate Research Database to match undergraduate students with faculty-mentored projects
   4. UM Today announcements
   5. Social Media: creating online spaces and content around UGR at UM
   6. other means
4. Organizing/conducting a campus-wide UM Undergraduate Research event to:
   1. spotlight current or recent UGR experiences and achievements
   2. facilitate discussions & solicit ideas & needs from students & mentors
   3. educate students and faculty about opportunities and resources
   4. help match students with mentors/projects
5. Assessing the Effectiveness of Undergraduate Research Awards from the summer of 2018 and 2019, and use those results to refine Criteria and Awards for 2020. The purpose of this annual internal grant competition is to enable undergraduate summer research experiences and incentivize the development of competitive external grant proposals for undergraduate research experiences
6. Further developing, administering, and branding an umbrella Summer Undergraduate Research Experience at UM, that provides common touch points and coordinated activities among the myriad departmental undergraduate research and creative scholarship programs around campus
7. Working with Outreach, ORSP, and academic units to help coordinate and oversee portions of the Rebel Research Scholars summer high school research program, and the UM Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
8. Assisting faculty/teams in the development of competitive proposals for external funding for undergraduate research and scholarship activities
9. Developing materials (tool kit) for use by faculty/staff in developing competitive proposals that include UGR opportunities
10. Interfacing with University Development to develop materials and cases for prospective private gifts to support undergraduate research and creative achievement—including crowdsourcing campaigns
11. Interfacing with University Communications to tell compelling stories of undergraduate students, their activities, and research and creative achievement
12. Interfacing with Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Planning (IREP) and others to develop methods to systematically capture/track all undergraduate research and creative scholarship occurring across campus (whether externally funded or not), including finding co-authorships of undergraduate students on UM faculty publications
13. Administering the current Undergraduate Research Travel Grant Program
14. Leading the monthly meetings of the Student Experiential Program Review Board
15. Leading the Rebel Research Scholars Board that provides guidance to faculty seeking to host/mentor high school students in summer research projects
16. Serving as faculty advisor to UM student editors of the University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal, helping to refine a more robust work plan for submission, review, and publication of undergraduate research articles for the spring of 2019
17. Attending monthly meetings of the University Research Board and giving updates on UG Research

This list represents a wish list. It is NOT expected that one fellow can address all or even most of the needs on this list—especially in just one year. We are looking for motivated, energetic, results-oriented individuals eager to roll up their sleeves and tackle some of them.

Interested individuals should submit a proposal for the Ole Miss Info Ready Review Portal by January 31. The proposal should succinctly:

• List which activities in the list above the applicant would be interested in taking on as part of their fellowship—presented as deliverables to be completed within a proposed fellowship period of no more than 12 months
• Optionally include or more additional/alternative activities the applicant believes would advance undergraduate research and creative scholarship
• Elaborate on how they would go about tackling each activity/deliverable
• Summarize their relevant experience and skills related to this role
• Propose a project period, with a start date as early as late January 2019, and end date as late as January 2020. Renewals for a second year of fellowship may be possible in some cases.
• Include a very abbreviated Resume or CV (two pages max) with experiences most relevant to the fellowship.
• Propose a method for compensation. (The exact arrangements would be negotiated if the fellowship is offered.) Possibilities may include:
  • Extra Pay for Extra Work – perform this role over and above their regular research/teaching/service responsibilities.
  • No-cost fellowship—perform this role as part of their service responsibilities or as volunteer work over and above research/teaching/service roles
  • Partial Summer Pay – for 9-month faculty only
  • Partial buy-out of regular academic time (for 12-month or 9-month faculty). Indicate what exactly would be bought out (e.g., one course for spring 2019) and at what cost.
  • Some combination of the above
• Include a brief (< 1 page) letter of support and recommendation from the applicant’s supervisor, specifically acknowledging the applicant’s proposal and capabilities, and indicating support from proposed compensation mechanism (and release time, if applicable).

One or more fellows will be selected based on the strength of the proposals and recommendation letters, the potential for quantity and quality of deliverables, and the value proposition (total cost, availability of funds, and likelihood for sustained impact).

In January 2019, ORSP will conduct several Information Sessions on UM Undergraduate Research. These sessions will be a good opportunity for students and faculty (including would-be UGR Fellows) to learn (and share) about opportunities, resources, and challenges around UM undergraduate research and creative achievement. To attend one of these sessions, simply sign up at http://research.olemiss.edu/upcoming-presentations; we will e-mail all registrants once a venue has been finalized. Those interested in contributing information about opportunities and challenges, or learning more about the UGR Fellowship program, may also contact Jason Hale (jghale@olemiss.edu).