Research activity during the summer is an excellent way for a student researcher to make focused progress in a project. There are many such opportunities across campus, and students are encouraged to talk to faculty members to devise a new project, or continue one begun during the academic year. SMU supports assistantships for students to pursue their research interests full-time so that undergraduates can make the most of opportunities provided by their faculty mentors. These Summer Research Assistantships (SRAs) allow students to earn up to $4000 during the summer, including the 50% match from the University, doing the research of their choice.
The selection of SRAs is a competitive process. To be considered, the interested student and their faculty mentor should prepare a proposal of 650 words or more that includes the following information:
- clear title
- overall motivation for the research
- methodology, technique or practice needed in the research
- description of specific research to be carried out by the student
- a section of at least 100 words, written solely by the student, of what they hope to get out of doing research, with particular emphasis on the proposed SRA effort.
- Acknowledgement that the student will write a 1000 word report of their research experience, which will be due no later than August 20, 2013.
With this proposal, the 2nd page of the URA form can be left blank aside from the required signatures at the bottom. The proposal, URA form and PAF are due to the Director of Undergraduate Research by March 29, 2013. Late applications are not guaranteed full consideration. A panel of SMU faculty will select approved SRAs from the submitted applications.
For approved SRAs, the final reports will be judged according to the following criteria:
- clear title
- motivation and intellectual context for the student's specific research
- description of the research project carried out by the student
- what was new, or what was the result of the work?
- what was the student's unique contribution?
- how could the effort be improved upon in future work?
- What did you learn from this experience?
The best 5 will be selected to present their results at the Fall Engaged Learning Symposium. If they are not on campus in Fall, they will be eligible to present at the Spring Symposium. Normal part-time URA support for the student or faculty mentor can be renewed for the subsequent term only once the SRA report has been submitted.
Specific Guidelines on SRAs
Faculty mentors should review the URA program Guidelines. For the summer, they can seek support for up to 3 SRAs, with a limit of a total of 6 students including part-time URAs. All students should enroll in at least a zero credit research course during the summer program. All departments that permit such opportunities should have one of these courses defined in the catalog. For now, if no such course exists, one from a different department can be used.
There are two choices for summer research as specified in the student pay papers:
- If the student is taking a credit bearing (1 or more credit) course during the relevant summer period, they are classified as a student employee. This student is exempt from FICA tax, and pays income tax, and no benefits are charged to home base org.
- For students not enrolled in credit bearing courses, they must be classified as 'temporary staff'. The student is charged FICA and income tax. Benefits charges are incurred against the same fund and org that the wages are paid from (50% benefits charged to URA program, 50% to the fund or provided by the department)
It is important the students be registered in one of these two scenarios.