How is the summer intern program funded? (Or what is the cost to me?)

The costs associated with administration of the summer intern program, such as offering of seminars, and activities are all covered by funds raised by the Program for Women in Science and Engineering. PWSE also provides staff support to coordinate the program, process applications, arrange housing through the department of residence, arrange for payroll, etc. The stipends for the participants come from three primary sources:

1. research grants from faculty/staff hosting the intern;

2. the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and

3. external grants/gifts received by PWSE.

If a researcher has a grant that will fully-fund the intern, that is great! If you have an NSF grant, you can apply for a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) supplement that will provide for full funding of an undergraduate student to work with you. Otherwise, PWSE staff members will work with each researcher to determine how other sources available can supplement research money to sponsor a student.

How are interns selected?

Interns apply through a process/application form available on the PWSE website. After the application deadline in January, researchers are asked to review the applicants and determine whom they would like to contact to discuss the possibilities of an internship. Individual researchers make contact with the students and offer the internship positions. The PWSE staff does not “match” students with researchers. The researchers make those decisions. If a researcher has a particular student with whom s/he would like to work, the researcher is welcome to encourage that student to apply.

What if I will not be around the entire summer during the internship?

Students and the PWSE staff realize that summer is a prime time for professional conferences and vacations. It is not required that you personally supervise your intern every day. It is acceptable (and expected) that post-docs and/or graduate students may oversee the day-to-day work of your intern. However, it is expected that you, as the student’s mentor, will spend some quality one-on-one time with your student during the summer. (In previous years, mentors reported spending from three to over ten hours per week with their students.)

What can I expect from my intern?

The PWSE interns will work for you 40 hours/week during the program. Each week there will be about an hour of PWSE programming time (lunches/seminars/training) that students will need to attend. The students will also need to spend some time researching/writing their paper and preparing their poster. Otherwise, the students will be available to work as part of your research team. The type and level of work you can expect from an intern depends on their background (obviously a senior in college will be able to do more than a senior in high school). However, based on previous mentor comments, the interns do make a significant contribution to the research team.

What are the benefits to the student (or me as a researcher) to having a student participate in the PWSE intern program rather than just paying her as an hourly worker?

• Beyond the work experience, the student gains additional experience in developing a research paper/poster. She also has the opportunity to participate in presentations (such as preparing for graduate school or scholarships) and gain a sense of community with other students participating in the program.
• The researcher may have the opportunity to leverage research money with other money available through PWSE or the Colleges. PWSE also takes care of the application process/paperwork, so the researcher doesn’t have to worry about those details. The PWSE applicant pool may include a broader audience, including students from other institutions. These students could then be recruited as potential graduate school students.

Previous Undergraduate Summer Interns wanting to return for a second year:

The goal of the PWSE summer internship program is to increase the number of women students who have opportunities to participate in a research opportunity. In light of that, PWSE will not provide funding towards undergraduate student interns if the students have previously been PWSE undergraduate summer interns. As a mentor, if you want to hire a student that has previously participated as an undergraduate intern with PWSE, you have two options: 1) You can hire that student independently to work as a research assistant not affiliated with the PWSE summer intern program or 2) You may choose to fully fund the student in the PWSE intern program ($3850). Students who have previously participated in our program as undergraduate interns are noted in the Excel file.

For more information, contact Lora Leigh Chrystal, Program Coordinator, 294-5278, lchrysta@iastate.edu