The goals of the award are:
- To provide WMU undergraduate students with an opportunity to have a mentored research or creative scholarship-related experience under the mentorship of one of WMU’s tenured faculty, tenure track faculty or staff.
- To provide WMU tenured faculty, tenure track faculty or staff who are actively funded or seeking external funding the opportunity to work with and mentor an undergraduate student in a project related to their expertise.
- Provide each student with a stipend to work with their mentor. Up to 100 hours of work throughout the semester is allowed (50 hours for either summer session), with a pay of $12/hour. An optional $300 ($150 for summer) is available for supplies, travel, or other needs; this request requires a budget and approval from the mentor.
For a faculty member to serve as a mentor they must meet one of the following criteria:
- Be a tenure-track Assistant Professor in their first three years of appointment when the student applies for the award. The award must be completed before the faculty member completes their fourth year of appointment.
- Currently have an externally funded research program of at least $5,000 in total direct costs. The faculty mentor must have current active external funding at the time of the start of the student award. Since students may not know who is currently funded, it is expected that the mentors will recruit students for their projects.
- Tenured or tenure track faculty who demonstrate that they are actively seeking external funding (submit at least one external grant or contract of at least $5,000 total direct costs with full facilities and administrative costs if allowed by the sponsor in the past year).
- For proposals or awards that meet the above requirements that are not required to be submitted via ORI and a PAF, documentation of a submission or award can be provided directly to ORI for review.
For a staff member to serve as a mentor they must meet the following criteria:
- Currently serve as PI on an externally funded research program of at least $5,000 in total direct costs. The mentor must have current active external funding at the time of the start of the student award. Since students may not know who is currently funded, it is expected that the mentors will recruit students for their projects.