For Interested Mentors

Student Eligibility

In order to be eligible, students must be a:

1. citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its possessions AND
2. be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at NAU

This is a Fall/Spring Internship

Students graduating prior to the start of the spring semester of the internship are not eligible.

Mentor Requirements

Mentors commit to providing interns the opportunity to broaden their educations with a rich, hands-on experience with the full process of inquiry and discovery. Whatever the internship emphasis – research, research & development, science writing, science policy, or science education – the mentor will work to provide an environment where the intern can learn and experience the research process from start to finish. In some cases, interns will join existing projects. In others, the project will evolve as the student’s interests and skills and the mentor’s needs come together. The mentor acts as a guide, encouraging the intern to understand the discovery process, learn the fundamentals necessary to succeed, and ultimately drive the experience.

Mentors attend an orientation at the beginning of the year regardless if they have not done so in the past. They assist in preparing the intern for the statewide Undergraduate Research Symposium at the end of the spring semester, including the brief abstract and PowerPoint presentation. Mentors are invited to participate in some Space Grant-organized activities during the year and to attend the Symposium and banquet at the end. The day-to-day interaction between the intern, the mentor, and the mentor’s team (where applicable) are defined and agreed upon by the intern and mentor as part of establishing a working relationship at the beginning of the academic year.

• ALL Mentors must submit a NAU-NASA Application for Research Mentorship by the deadline. Please note that you may only submit one project and have one student for this internship per year; multiple applications will not be considered by the Space Grant Steering Committee.
• Mentors can coordinate with a Student prior to applying to the program and indicate the student on their NAU-NASA Application for Research Mentorship or request us to match them with a student intern.
• It is desired that the research further NASA’s mission in some way.
• Applications will be reviewed by our Steering Committee in April and they will determine which projects are selected.
• ALL Mentor project descriptions are posted online during student application process.

Project Alignment Requirements

The NAU/NASA Space Grant Program has increased efforts to highlight our programs’ alignment with the 5 NASA Mission Directorates (MDs). All AZSGC-funded projects are required to align with one or more NASA MDs. Please review this NASA Mission Directorate pdf document to find out more about all four NASA MDs before choosing which MD(s) and research priority area(s) your project most closely aligns with. You will need to indicate this on your mentor program agreement form if you are awarded funding.

Project Funding

This internship is funded by NASA Space Grant, and whenever possible, through the generous contributions of mentors.

Please also keep in mind students who receive NAU/NASA Space Grant funding may not accept other NSF or Gov funding from other program at NAU.

The NAU/NASA Space Grant Undergraduate Research Internship program works hard to engage the largest number of students possible. Each year, we are able to extend the internship funding base to a larger group of undergraduates through much appreciated financial assistance provided by mentors who are able to full-fund or split-fund their interns. Interns may work may work a maximum of 10 hours/week over the Fall, Winter and Spring semesters. Thus, full-funding an intern for 30 weeks at 10hrs/week amounts to $$4,650 ($15.50/hr x 300hrs), while split-funding an intern (split funding indicates your funding will cover 50% of the student’s salary) amounts to $2,325. The highest ranked applicants are awarded NASA Space Grant Internships to work with faculty or professional mentors for the forthcoming academic year. There is a $250.00 supply/item request limit per internship/project.

Matching Students to Projects

Before the application due date, faculty and professionals interested in mentoring motivated undergraduates submit an online application defining their potential research project.

Mentors are able to:

1. pre-select a student for their project [reserved project] when they submit an application or
2. not-select a student for their project [open project] when they submit an application which allows all interested students to apply to their project

The goal is to provide a new and rich experience to the applicant. Mentors are then responsible for reviewing all intern applications based on the content and quality of the applicant’s responses to three open-ended questions. GPA, motivation for applying, interest-level, potential, and involvement (work, volunteerism, other activities) should also be considered. (Experience should not a factor in the selection process as the internship is designed to provide first research opportunities).

Ultimately NAU/NASA Space Grant provides the lists of qualified students to each of the chosen mentors and then let them make the final choice of who they want to work with.