HOW TO BE AN ADVISOR
FOR
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
- Faculty Members
who
are interested
in being added to the list of prospective mentors should forward the
following
information to Dr. Robert M. Tombes,
PO Box 842012, Dept of Biology.
- Name:
- Department
Address/Location:
- Phone:
- Email
- Research
Description
(see examples
under lists of other mentors - your target audience are 2nd-3rd year
VCU
undergraduate students).
Faculty will have a VCU
senior
working in the lab for 2 consecutive semesters. Students may not
receive
credit if they are being paid for their work. Your responsibilities as
an advisor will be the following: - Discuss the project
and your
expectations with the student, including:
- Number of hours
they
plan to
spend in the lab each week (students can register for between 2 and 4
credit
hours; rule of thumb is 3 hours in lab per credit hour, so you cannot
expect
students to work more than 12 hrs per week in your lab).
- Techniques that
will
be necessary
to become familiar with.
- What will the
grading criteria
be - students can take the course either P/F (BIOL 492) or with a
letter
grad (BIOL 495).
- Assign a lab
mentor
that will
guide the student in your lab daily (if its not you).
- Help student write
proposal
that will either be due in the early spring semester of the Junior Year
(for students taking BIOL 392) or the first week of Fall Semester.
These
should be returned to Dr. Tombes after approval by supervising faculty
member.
- Help student write
end
of semester
report.
Overview| Course
Descriptions | Potential
Advisors |
Research
Descriptions | How
to Select a Lab | Contract|
Current
Student Researchers