COUR: Research Assistants - Issue 34

**There are currently 5 more research assistant positions open! Start Date will be the beginning of the Spring semester. Refer to the Call for Mentors below to discover how you can participate in this program.**

Seeking Undergraduate Research Mentors for COUR Emerging Researchers Program

The College of Science and Mathematics Office of Undergraduate Research (COUR) is looking for research-active faculty to serve as mentors for undergraduate research students as part of our new Emerging Researchers Program, which aims to offer up to 15 hours per week of paid research experience to COSM students eligible for federal work-study. The Emerging

Researchers Program has been funded to support 25 students in the initial launch. Students will generally be paid $12/hour for up to 229 hours per semester. These are yearlong appointments. In many instances, the student will be eligible to continue the position for multiple years as approved by the Georgia Southern Office of Financial Aid and based on their work-study eligibility. Additional hours may be available during the summer in some situations as determined by the Office of Financial Aid.

The goal of the Emerging Researchers Programs is to give COSM students hands-on experiences in their field of study that will propel them to success in their chosen career path. These resume building experiences will provide students the opportunity to gain marketable skills for a successful transition to careers in STEM, as well as admission into high quality graduate programs. By utilizing their work-study eligibility, students will get the financial benefit of paid research positions as well as the work experience in their chosen STEM fields.

To serve as a research mentor for a student as part of the COUR Emerging Researchers Program, faculty should provide the following information through the COUR Emerging Researchers Program Mentor Google Form:

• A half-page abstract for each project available to students; and

• 2-3 sentences describing the work students would be doing as part of that project - for example: “Students working on this project will conduct synthesis of organic molecules using standard techniques and characterize the synthetic products using NMR and Mass spectrometry to determine structure. Additionally, students will perform analysis using NMR titrations to study binding affinities, use fluorescent and UV-Visible spectroscopy to study optical properties, and other techniques as needed to understand molecular properties.”

To have a student begin in your lab in the Spring semester, please complete and submit the form by November 11. Faculty may submit multiple projects, if applicable. For any questions,

please email Heather Joesting (hjoesting@georgiasouthern.edu).