Mentored Undergraduate Student Experience

APPLY HERE – APPLICATIONS ARE DUE THE LAST FRIDAY IN FEBRUARY

MU-MUSE Fellowships are competitive awards to eligible students who have submitted an outstanding proposal. Students selected to participate in the program will be awarded a $5,000 to be paid over the course of a 10-week summer research experience. This stipend can be used for any expenses related to program participation including tuition, room/rent, meals, transportation, etc. Awardees are expected to be on campus at least 28 hours per week during the 10-week term of their Fellowship, though exceptions may be made for students participating in fieldwork as part of the program. Given the intensive nature of this experience, awardees are discouraged from enrolling in other summer courses or employment during the duration of the Fellowship period.

Eligibility and Fellowship Requirements
Students from all colleges, majors, and disciplines are encouraged to apply. Student wishing to apply for an MU-MUSE Fellowship must:

Be eligible to work in the United States and have a valid Social Security card
Successfully complete all background clearances
Have completed at least 33 credit hours of college coursework, have a cumulative GPA of 3.0, and have completed at least 4 courses within the major with a minimum GPA 3.0.
Have a research mentor who is a full-time MU faculty member
Register for 6 or more credits during the fall semester following the summer research program

Students must submit their applications online. Proposals are due by 11:59 pm the last Friday in February.

The online application must consist of the following:

Student and faculty contact information
Project title and abstract
Project narrative
Student narrative, timeline, and bibliography
Faculty letter of endorsement

The student is responsible for completing the first four parts of the application at the link above. After the student has submitted the application, the project mentor will have an opportunity to attach a letter endorsing the student’s application.

Proposals will be reviewed by members of the MU community who are unlikely to be specialists in your area of study, therefore, project narratives should be written for a generally educated audience. The review committee fully expects the project narrative to be collaborative and jointly authored by the student and faculty mentor.

Project Narrative: The project proposal should do the following:
- Provide a rationale/background for the project
- Describe the methods that will be used to complete the project
- Briefly describe the expected outcomes, if any
- Dissemination Plan: Identify the scholarly/creative outcomes of the project. This includes all opportunities for presentation, exhibition, publication, performance, etc. that the student and mentor will undertake.
Student Narrative: The student narrative should include the following four sections:
- How participation in MU-MUSE will contribute to the student’s academic and career goals
- The student’s qualifications to participate in the project, including classroom, lab, studio, past research, internships, competitions, or performances experience.
- An explanation of the student’s interest in the specific project

Timeline: Provide a detailed schedule for completing the proposed project within the 10-week time This should be no longer than 1 page.
References Cited – any references included in your Project Narrative should be listed here. Please use the format most common in your field.

The project narrative should be entered into the Project Narrative section of the online form. You are limited to 10,000 characters including spaces. This is equivalent to about 5 double spaced pages, 12pt type.

The Student Narrative, the Timeline, and the References Cited should be combined into a single PDF and attached to the proposal using the upload button at the bottom of the form.

Faculty Letter of Endorsement
The faculty letter of endorsement should describe the relationship between the mentor’s scholarly/creative agenda and the student’s project or role in the collaboration. It should also discuss the learning objectives for the student and the relevant mentoring approaches and strategies to be used to achieve the learning and scholarly/creative objectives. Finally, the mentor should verify that all the resources necessary (e.g., funding, equipment) to complete the project will be available by the project start date.

Faculty will have the opportunity to upload a blind letter of endorsement after the student submits their online form. After the student submits, the faculty mentor will receive an email asking them to approve the application and attach their letter of endorsement. Once the faculty member attaches their letter and submits, the application will be considered complete.

Please contact Mr. Jeffry Porter by phone 717-871-4829 or email with any questions.