Information for Mentors/Sponsors

Download a preview of the online "Mentor Endorsement Form" here. You will receive an automatically-generated email with a link to the "Mentor Endorsement Form" and a copy of your mentee's application when your mentee submits the online application form. Please reply as soon as you can, no longer than one week after you receive the emailed link. Thank you!

Please note the following points with regard to the help you provide to students who are submitting research proposals under your supervision:

• Your recommendation will be due one week after the application deadline. When your mentee submits their application online, you will receive an automatically-generated email requesting your evaluation via a webform. That email will include a copy of your mentee's application. Your mentee should alert you to this process and timetable prior to the application deadline.
  

Additional Guidance for Research mentors:

• Research projects should focus on specific research questions to be answered within the time frame allowed. If two or more students are working on the same project, each of their roles needs to be clearly delineated.
  
  
• The project should not be purely descriptive unless there is very limited literature in the field of inquiry. For example, projects that are limited to collecting information about attitudes, opinions or practices of healthcare providers, without any plan for studying an intervention, are generally not approved for funding.
  
  
• The writing of the proposal should convey scientific or scholarly rigor and provide sufficient detail to allow the reviewers to understand the nature of the question(s) or intervention being pursued, relevant background, methodology, and potential relevance/impact. In particular for research projects, the methods section should provide a clear and detailed description of analytic approaches, including statistical methods and justification for sample size if applicable.
  
  
• The faculty mentor is expected to give the student considerable assistance with the research plan portion of the application. In addition to discussing the project with the student and providing appropriate references, the mentor is expected to read and help write this section with the student.
  
  
• If questionnaires or other written instruments are used in the project, samples need to be included with the proposal.
  
  
• If IRB approval is needed, please submit the IRB application promptly so that approval is obtained before the student’s proposed start date. Lack of IRB approval at the proposed start date for the student will lead to a loss of funding, and possibly full cancellation of the student research grant.