Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning (UREL)

Faculty Registration and Resources

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Mentor Students in Labs

The Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning (UREL) programs are an avenue for faculty members to mentor undergraduate students in labs. Through hands-on research, we can teach and develop the next generation of scientists. You will find a collection of resources below that will help you develop UREL opportunities for your students and help support the ones you might choose to mentor. If you have any questions or concerns about UREL in COSM, please email the director at cosm-undergradresearch@wright.edu. 

How to Post a Job Position with Career Services and Hire a Paid Undergraduate Student Researcher

If you want to hire a student as an undergraduate research assistant and pay him/her using funds from a grant or other source, that's great! You will need to do a few things, most of which involve some leg work with Wright State Career Services. 

  • Secure funding (most often from research grants). 
  • You will need to work with Wright State Career Services to post a job. 
  • The forms you need to post the job and to complete the hiring process can be found on the Career Services Supervisors: Forms page. 
  • Once you submit the paperwork to Career Services, they will notify you when your new position has been posted and is being advertised on the Career Service website. At this time, they will also inform you how long you have to wait (normally 5 business days) before you can make an official hiring decision. 
  • It is a good idea to meet any student candidates prior to your decision and discuss the work that they will be doing, your expectations, and what their expectations are. 
  • Once you have made a decision, hiring forms need to be completed.  
  • Note that the paperwork requirements are different for a student who is working on campus for the first time as compared to someone who has worked on campus before. 
  • Both the student employee and the supervisor must complete the Student Authorization Form. More information can be found on the Career Center's page. 
  • On this form, you will need to provide FOPAL numbers so your student can get paid. 
  • Also, you will have to designate who is going to be the timesheet approver. Every other Friday, someone has to log in to WINGS and approve the student's timesheet submission so that they can get paid on time. Some faculty prefer to do this on their own, while others ask departmental administrative staff to do so. 
  • A word from the director of UREL's own experiences—it is a good idea for you to ask your student to send you a detailed summary via email of the activities/accomplishments/work that supports his/her timesheet submission. 
  • Once the paperwork is done, your student must take it all to Career Services. They have designated times to process student employment forms so have your student call to verify their processing hours, 937- 775-2556. 
  • Make sure that your student registers as a COSM UREL student. 

Working in Research (Lab Groups, Professionalism, Ethics, Intellectual Property, etc.)

Research Ethics and Integrity 

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) is the appropriate and ethical practice of research, scholarship or creative activity. Most federally funded research programs require students to be properly trained in RCR policies and best practices. As a faculty mentor you should encourage students to complete several training modules in various RCR topics. 

Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer 

Research Safety 

Safety training is provided by Wright State University Environmental Health and Safety (EHS). Faculty mentor should show which training/safety module(s) students will need to complete. The number and type of training modules needed will vary with the scientific discipline and nature of the work.  

Visit the Environmental Health and Safety website to register to start the safety training process.  Some modules can be completed online while others are completed in a class. It is critical that faculty begin the training process immediately upon starting a research experience with students.

Wright State University Undergraduate Research Initiative (UURI)

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, in addition to supporting the annual research celebration, has funding available for a mini-grant program that would support faculty-student research teams and a summer undergraduate research program. In response to this, the COSM director of UREL has convened a University Undergraduate Research Initiative (UURI) with the aim of advising RSP on planning for the annual research celebrations in addition to re-instituting the mini-grant program as well as the summer program. The UURI is made up of representatives from colleges across Wright State. If you would like to participate in the UURI, please contact the director of UREL at cosm-undergradresearch@wright.edu. 

Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR)

Wright State is an enhanced institutional member of the Council for Undergraduate Research. With this membership, Wright State enjoys the following:

  • Unlimited individual memberships for faculty, students and staff members at no cost to the individual. Learn more about joining. 
  • Access to the Registry of Undergraduate Researchers for graduate school recruitment. 
  • Substantial discounts.  Enhanced Institutional members receive the highest discount on CUR Institute registration fees, CUR meeting registration fees, and CUR consulting services. Free access for up to 10 participants to CUR-hosted webinars. 
  • Access to CUR's online archive of webinar recordings and materials. 
  • Participation in Posters on the Hill. This highly competitive event brings 60 students with their faculty mentor each year to Washington, D.C., to present their research on Capitol Hill. Membership is required for student-faculty teams to apply and the Enhanced Institutional membership allows any individual from your institution the ability to apply. 
  • Receive CUR publications. A copy of each publication in the 'how-to" series will be sent to all new institutional members. 
  • Mentoring Service: Experienced faculty helping others along—this is the essence of CUR. Individual members can be matched with someone close to their interests, with whom they can discuss job applications, grant applications, tenure documents... 
  • Subscriptions to the CUR Quarterly.  All individual members will receive electronic subscriptions. 

The Council for Undergraduate Research sponsors several conferences and meetings a year. Some of these meetings focus on developing undergraduate research programming while others provide venues for undergraduate research presentations.

Mentoring Resources

If you want some guidance on mentoring undergraduate student researchers, we have provided some excellent resources to help you develop and hone your mentoring skills. Remember that the positive impact that a UREL experience can have on a student is affected by the quality of mentoring that they receive. You can also use these resources to help prepare fellow faculty colleagues for mentoring undergraduate student researchers.

Science and Mathematics, College of

Location: 
134 Oelman Hall
Hours: 
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: 
937-775-2611
Fax: 
937-775-3068
Email: 

cosm@wright.edu

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Undergraduate Academic Advising, Science and Mathematics

Science and Mathematics, College of
Location: 
106 Oelman Hall
Hours: 
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: 
937-775-3180
Email: 

cosm-advisors@wright.edu