PWSE is currently identifying potential mentors for the 2010 PWSE Summer Internship Program. If you are an ISU faculty/staff/affiliate researcher interested in serving as a mentor, please complete the PDF Mentor Interest Form and return to the PWSE Office by campus mail or the Word Mentor Interest Form electronically to lchrysta@iastate.edu before January 29, 2010.

Undergraudate Intern Program
The undergraduate intern program is an 8-week commitment. Internships will begin on June 1, 2010 and end on July 23, 2010. Interns are expected to work 40 hours per week and are paid a stipend of $3500 for their participation in the program. Interns are expected to complete a technical paper and present their research in a poster session on July 23, 2010 from 1-3pm in the Molecular Biology Building Atrium.

• The Program for Women in Science and Engineering will provide overall program management, recruit applicants, process university and financial paperwork, coordinate housing for those interested in living in Fredericksen Court, provide professional development and social programs (luncheons, panel presentations, outing to Des Moines, etc.), organize orientation and closing poster session, and assess the internship experience. PWSE also has limited funds to assist mentors in covering the intern stipend.
• Mentors (and their research team) select the intern from the applicant pool, provide the research project, supervise/support student research on a day-to-day basis, assist student on poster and paper development, and provide the majority (if not all) of the funds for the $3500 student stipend.

Matching of students and mentors will begin the February 8, 2010, so we would appreciate your earliest compliance. Please return campus mail copies to:

PWSE
218 Carver Hall
ATTN: Lora Leigh Chrystal

For specific information regarding the internship program, activities and application process please see our general summer internship webpage.

 

2010 Timeline for the Mentor/Intern Application and Matching Process:

January 29 - Mentor Interest Form application deadline.

February 1 - Deadline for Summer Intern Applicants.

February 5 - Interested mentors will recieved funding approval no later than February 5, 2010 from PWSE.

February 8 - Review of applicants begins - email sent to mentors who have signed up (revolving) and Mentors may begin to come into office or check out intern files.

March 12 - Mail letters to applicants who are selected (includes Housing and Agreement/Acceptance) or inform interns they have not been selected at this time.

April 9 - Intern Agreement/Acceptance & Housing Forms due.

How will participation help my department or me?

As Iowa State University strives for excellence, the participation of undergraduate students in research can serve as a critical component to establishing an environment of excellence. Similarly by providing top high school students with similar experiences, Iowa State can continue to attract these scholars as undergraduate students. The opportunity to provide these opportunities for women students, who are typically under-represented in the sciences and engineering, can also help ISU in fostering a climate supportive of diverse students. Besides advancing the university or department goals related to excellence and diversity, by engaging students in your research you can increase the people-power dedicated to your research in a cost-efficient manner. Also, talented undergraduates can be recruited to continue on with your research as graduate students.

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 and Life Sciences and Engineering 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, iIt is expected that mentors will cover at least half of the stipend cost. PWSE has some matching funds for the 2010 Summer Intern Program. We will be in contact with you about our ability to cover the remaining portion of the stipend before the matching process begins on February 5, 2010.

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 work-life balance) 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