102 Roudebush Hall • Phone: 513-529-3600• Fax: 513-529-3762

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DUOS Doctoral Undergraduate Research Opportunities

DUOS Guidelines

In the DUOS program graduate and undergraduate students collaborate on a research project under the supervision of a faculty member in a Ph.D. granting department. Any Miami undergraduate student and any post-master’s doctoral student in good standing who agree to abide by program requirements are eligible to apply.  Either graduates or undergraduates may initiate the application, but the undergraduate student is to have primary authorship of the project.

Application Deadline 5:00 p.m. October 17, 2011. Submit one (1) signed original of your proposal along with the signed application form to: Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship (OARS) 102 Roudebush Hall. Contact OARS 529-3600 for printed program guidelines and application form.

Questions not answered in the guideline materials should be directed to: Dr. Gary A. Lorigan, Chemistry and Biochemistry, garylorigan@muohio.edu 529-3338.

Award Distribution
Detailed Program Schedule
Eligibility
Faculty Advisor Roles and Responsibilities
Graduate and Undergraduate Roles and Responsibilities
Presentation at the UR Forum


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DUOS Program Overview
A. Program Features

• a focus on undergraduates learning the processes of research and scholarship under supervision of graduate student mentors
  
• a project/travel allowance of $400, each, for the graduate and undergraduate partners
• an additional project/travel allowance of $100 for each partner, contingent upon their participation in training offered by the program for their roles as mentor and mentee in a research partnership
• undergraduate student earn independent study credit, if appropriate.

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B. Program Benefits

• adds a distinctive experience, shown to increase student intellectual maturity, to undergraduate education
  
• increases availability of graduate students as role models for undergraduate students
  
• enhances graduate student research programs by the participation of talented undergraduates
  
• enables doctoral students to enhance their skills as mentors of undergraduate scholars, and become more reflective about the role that they play in undergraduate education
  
• creates the basis for later job application materials documenting graduate students’ experiences/achievements in their role as research mentorspublicly recognizes graduate students who are making an effort to enhance their performance as research mentors
  
• enhance the university community’s awareness and appreciation of the synergy between graduate and undergraduate programs
  
• clearly links scholarship and teaching at the University
  
• serves as a model program that other graduate schools may emulate
  
  
C. Award Distribution Dr. Gary A. Lorigan, Professor of Chemistry serves as chair of the DUOS and will convene a review panel for academic year 2010-2011. In developing its award recommendations, the review panel will consider the:


• readability/clarity of the proposal and its conformity to the required format
• quality of experiences proposed by applications, including significance of the problem to be addressed, the clarity of linkage between problem and method/creative process, the feasibility of the project in terms of the partners’ skills, time, and budget, and educational value to the undergraduate student
• quality and appropriateness of the mentorship supervision and interactions proposed
• distribution of awards across disciplinary areas

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II. ELIGIBILITY
A. Graduate Mentor Eligibility
The program is open to all Miami University full-time post-masters’ doctoral students. If the graduate student’s program does not offer a master’s, students must be in at least their second year of graduate study. Preference will be given to graduate students who can document prior research collaboration with a faculty member. Each graduate/ undergraduate pair should make application as described below. A single graduate student can be listed as a prospective mentor on up to two applications only. In addition, the graduate student’s faculty advisor must be willing to oversee the project as described in these guidelines.

To participate
• a graduate student must be willing and able to provide appropriate supervision and mentorship of the undergraduate with whom she or he has elected to be paired.
• the graduate student’s faculty advisor must be willing to oversee the project as described below.

B. Undergraduate Student Eligibility
Application to the program is open to any Miami University undergraduate student who holds a minimum 2.75 GPA and is otherwise in good standing (not on probation, etc.) and who is willing to collaborate with the graduate student to complete the project and communicate the results of that work to the scholarly community.

III. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibility for a successful program will rest with the undergraduate student scholar and her or his graduate mentor.

A. Graduate and Undergraduate Roles and Responsibilities.

1. Joint Applications. Graduate students will collaborate with specific undergraduate students in developing and submitting applications for the DUOS Scholar Partners program. Either graduates or undergraduates may initiate the application, but the undergraduate student is to have primary authorship of the project. The program is not intended to support graduate student supervision of undergraduates who are doing menial tasks in service of the graduate student’s research project. Instead, graduate students should strive to provide a meaningful and appropriate undergraduate student experiences. The graduate student should assist the undergraduate to develop a proposed project that qualifies as research or other creative endeavor that will add to the sum of human knowledge and contribute to the growth of the scholarly or creative capability of the undergraduate scholar.

In preparing the application, the graduate student mentor should assist the undergraduate to generate a well-written proposal that can be understood by an educated person who is not a specialist in the field. The graduate student mentor and undergraduate scholar should jointly complete the application so that it conforms fully to the instructions provided, including all the requisite information and the specified number of application copies.

2. Participation in collaborative scholarly project. If selected for an appointment, the undergraduate and graduate student partners are expected to work collaboratively to complete the project and to present the results to the scholarly community.

3. Invention Disclosure/Intellectual Property – Invention Disclosure/Intellectual Property – Inventions and intellectual property developed during the research will be owned by Miami University; by signing the application all participants agree they will not be entitled to any compensation or royalties for the intellectual property developed through this research. Disclosure of inventions and intellectual property must be made during the research process, using a Miami University Invention Disclosure form. Contact OARS 529-3600.

4. Participation in training for mentor-mentee relationships in a scholarly context. Each of the two partners who participate in training for mentoring undergraduate scholars offered by Miami’s Preparing Future Faculty initiative will receive an additional project/travel budget of $100.

5.Project Presentation. It is expected that the undergraduate and graduate students will produce a product (paper, oral presentation, poster, artwork, portfolio, model, etc.) as a result of their joint project. The undergraduate student and graduate mentor at the beginning of the student's participation should agree as to the purpose and form of this product. Undergraduate students will be expected to present this product, if appropriate, at the Undergraduate Research Poster Session planned for April. In addition, it is strongly encouraged that partners aim toward regional/national/international presentation/performance/dissemination of their work.

6. Evaluation. A final report and summary of the project will be due in April. Awardees will be asked to complete several questionnaires relating to their educational experiences and activities.

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B. Faculty Advisor Roles and Responsibilities
The graduate student’s advisor must endorse the project (i.e., provide a statement concerning the quality of the proposed project, and certify the undergraduate’s authorship of the project and the capability of the graduate student to mentor the undergraduate) and be willing to oversee the project as described below:

1. Need to Comply with University and Federal Research Regulations. It is the responsibility of the graduate student’s faculty advisor to assure that all required regulatory committee approvals (human subjects, vertebrate animals, radioisotopes or recombinant DNA) are obtained prior to the start of the project.

2. Oversight of the Project/Travel Allowances. Each project may receive up to $1000 total for supplies, services and travel used in direct support of the project and dissemination of its results. This is not a scholarship for tuition or a cash award. It may not be used for entertainment. The graduate student’s faculty advisor will supervise spending from this account using standard University ordering and accounting procedures. All charges must be made against this allowance by June 30. This allowance account will be cleared and closed by the University Accounting Office on June 30. The faculty advisor is responsible for any charges made to that account above the $1,000 allotted or after June 30.

3. Independent study credit, if appropriate. The faculty member may determine that it is appropriate for the undergraduate student to receive independent study credit for his/her conduct of the project. If so, the faculty member will serve as the instructor of record for that independent study.

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IV. DETAILED PROGRAM SCHEDULE

DATE(S)	DEADLINE or SCHEDULED EVENT
September	Announcement and Guidelines for program are distributed
October	Graduate and Undergraduate students arrange appropriate collaborations and complete joint grad/undergrad application
October 17	DUOS applications are submitted to OARS 102 Roudebush by 5 pm
November	Panel reviews applications and selects awardees
December	Training session on mentoring in a scholarly context
April 13, 2011	Undergrads participate in the Undergraduate Research Forum in April and Final report and evaluations are due to OARS
July 1	Accounts closed and cleared