For Prospective Students

NCSSM Durham-hosted Mentorship Program is open to all Residential and Online juniors to apply in October-November.  Students applying for Durham-hosted Mentorship are not applying to a specific mentor, but rather to a specific program timeline as the mentor pairing occurs as a part of the required spring course. 

Prior research experience is not a criteria for participation; many students enter the program with no research experience and most mentors do not require any prior technical background or coursework in their field of study.  The variety of topics students may choose to pursue are not limited by discipline or specific type of research, however available fields are dependent on the program identifying an available volunteer mentor in the Triangle which varies from year to year. 

• Mentorship 1 (M1): Summer: 45

• Mentorship 2 (M2): Academic Year: 50

• Mentorship 3 (M3): Extended: 25

Program-wide Requirements for Mentorship

• see details on pages 15-19 in Opportunity Catalog

Interest Meeting for Durham Mentorship

• Virtual Interest Meeting:  Monday, October 13th, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

• Virtual Interest Meeting Recording: Click HERE

• Interest Meeting Slideshow (same for M1, M2, M3)

• Oct. 17    7-8am, 12-1pm

• Oct. 21 3:30-4:30pm

• Oct. 24 12-1pm

• Oct. 28 8:00-9:00pm

• Oct. 30 3:30-5:00pm

• Oct. 31  7-8am

• Nov. 4 7-8am, 12-1pm, 3:30-4:30pm

As part of Summer Mentorship (M1/M3) commitment, students must attend all dates of this program within SRIP and live on campus. No exceptions for absences will be made for any reason (including academic competitions, family vacations, school sponsored events, summer service etc.). 

As part of the Academic Year Mentorship (M2/M3), students must prioritize and fully commit to the protected and required Mentorship working and travel time from 12:40-5:30PM on Tuesdays/Thursdays for the Senior Mentorship core course (which includes blocks G2L/G2/F2/F4L/F4/G4, flexible use time T/R and one additional block for a class meeting each week). This includes prioritizing the Mentorship Program over athletics and other extracurricular activities on Tuesday/Thursday afternoons from 12:40-5:30PM

All accepted Mentorship juniors will automatically be enrolled in MR3080 Mentorship: Foundations in Research elective course required 2nd semester and offered virtually (multiple evening class sections, times/dates vary each year) to prepare students for engaging in an experience with an off-campus volunteer mentor.  Students must successfully complete the MR3080 course and consistently meet all program criteria in order to begin and continue participation in the Summer Mentorship Program within SRIP and/or the Senior Mentorship Program through MR4050 and MR4051 Mentorship: Senior Research in the academic year which require the following commitments.

Durham-hosted Mentorship students will have the opportunity to choose their area of interest and will take part in the mentor search process. The process of securing a mentor is administered as part of the spring course by the Director of Mentorship and Research and is dependent on student's taking ownership of the mentor search procedures and deadlines. Mentors available in 2026-2027 will be announced as part of the spring course.   

Students do NOT ask mentors directly at any point before or during the Mentorship Program.

Research mentors available in 2026-2027 will be announced as part of the spring course that all accepted Mentorship juniors will be automatically enrolled in (MR3080).  The process of securing a mentor is administered as part of the spring course by the Director of Mentorship and Research and is dependent on students taking ownership of the mentor search procedures and deadlines. Students do NOT ask mentors directly at any point before or during the Mentorship Program.

Students in Mentorship are most often mentored by academic partners at Duke University, NC State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and partnering organizations such as RTI International. If students have specific questions about possible mentors, they should reach out to NCSSM Durham's Director of Mentorship & Research at the beginning of the mentor search to discuss further.  

The research topic students pursue will be dependent on the mentor they get matched with in the spring. Therefore, a Mentorship student's research focus is often unknown until late spring or not until they begin the experience and learn what your mentor is currently working on and what is feasible for you as a minor under 18 years of age. This requires a student's flexibility and an open mind to new areas of interest or unexpected projects within the mentor’s research. The variety of topics students may choose to pursue are not limited by discipline or specific type of research, however the topic is dependent on the program identifying an available volunteer mentor in the Triangle which varies from year to year.

The type of research that students do is highly dependent on the type of research and the state of the mentors' existing projects. Some mentors will provide students with the opportunity to work on an independent project (i.e. typically a subsection or off-shoot of an existing project), others will have students collaborate within existing work in a more team-based manner. Regardless of the independence of the students' projects, mentors are required to ensure a clear timeline and research project for active student participation.

Students will be encouraged after being matched with mentors and during the onset of the program and beyond to discuss the bounds of their project; however, there is no guarantee that a student recieves an independent project. At the beginning of the mentor search, students may reach out to NCSSM Durham's Director of Mentorship & Research to discuss topics of interest and project independence.

All Mentorship courses are required as well as travel off site and traveling time (which is outside of the course blocks), so students should consider the commitment when making decisions about participating in the program. 

The commitment to Mentorship takes priority over extracurricular activities including school-sponsored athletics practices and games, academic competitions, and doctor's appointments that could be scheduled for other dates/times.  

Mentorship should we viewed as a job and students are serving as an ambassador of NCSSM to the external partners who are volunteering to partner with NCSSM Mentorship Programs. If you wish to participate in research, but cannot make a commitment to Mentorship, please consider applying for the Summer Research & Innovation Program or registering for a REX course or a research-based J-term in your area of interest. 

Each campus offers a variety of partnering institutions and organizations based on the regional assets and the interest of volunteers in partnering and partners participating vary each year.  Students have worked in an extremely wide range of disciplines. Some fields explored by students include art history, marine biology, law, philosophy, marketing, engineering, astrophysics, psychology, clinical/biomedical, finance, computer science, and EMT certification.  

Transportation is provided during scheduled Mentorship times of 8:00-5:00 Monday through Friday during the summer and 12:30-4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the academic year. The Mentorship Program cannot provide transportation outside of these scheduled blocks,  If a unique circumstance or opportunity arises for a Mentorship student, transportation can be requested by contacting the Directors of Mentorship and Research (Dr. Shoemaker, Durham and Ms. Burkins, Morganton).

Students accepted to the SRIP/Mentorship will only be offered a single opportunity, so choose your rankings carefully.   

For example, if a student is accepted for their 1st choice, the student will not be considered for their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th ranked opportunities.  Students' preference of which opportunity they would most like to participate in is identified by their rank of each opportunity within their SRIP/Mentorship application.

Residential students are not eligible for SRIP/Mentorship if they are offered and accept positions in the departmental program RSci (including RBio, RChem, RCompSci, RPhys).  RSci and the Mentorship Programs overlap in F/G senior year and overlap in summer commitment.   Residential students in other departmental programs such as RHum and RMath and Applications in Entrepreneurship can apply to Mentorship, however the Mentorship Program may prioritize students that have not yet been served in research and innovation at NCSSM.

A primary goal of NCSSM research and innovation is to provide an opportunity for as many of our students as possible.  However, students are encouraged to apply to all opportunities they are interested in committing to since all opportunities are competitive and often have more applicants than student slots available.  

If students are accepted to or choosing to participate in multiple opportunities, it is strongly recommended that they reflect carefully and honestly about managing the commitment of taking on multiple research/innovation opportunities. Be honest with about whether you can give your best to more than one research/innovation opportunity.