Mentorship Program 

• Summer Mentorship (Mentorship 1, M1):  The Summer Mentorship program is offered to NCSSM Durham and Morganton students as well as NCSSM Online students for 5-7 weeks in the summer. Students live on campus and are provided transportation to and from their mentors' sites. As part of the Summer Research & Innovation Program (SRIP), Summer Mentorship students can interact with the larger community of other student researchers and innovators when they are not off-campus for research. Participating in Summer Mentorship excludes students from participating in other SRIP opportunities offered by NCSSM and full commitment is required.

  • Durham M1 students are typically on-site Monday through Friday, 8AM-4PM.

  • Morganton M1 students are typically on-site most often Monday through Friday for full days, scheduling is dependent on the professional partner.

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• Academic Year Mentorship (Mentorship 2, M2): The Academic Year Mentorship Program is offered to only NCSSM residential students at their respective campus during the school year for both semesters of their senior year. Students travel to their research location twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, during afternoon blocks and flexible use time. Students will typically remain on site from 1PM-4PM (not including travel time). The Academic Year Mentorship program counts as credit for one of the five core classes each student is required to take during the academic year.

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• Extended Mentorship (Mentorship 3, M3): The Extended Mentorship Program is offered to only NCSSM residential students at their respective campus. It is a combination of Summer Mentorship and Academic Year Mentorship. Students will participate in research for 5-7 weeks during the summer (see below). During their senior year, students will continue their research by traveling to their research site twice a week (Tuesday/Thursday, 1PM-4PM not including travel time). The Extended Mentorship program counts as credit for one of the five core classes each student is required to take during the academic year. As the program begins in the summer, Extended Mentorship is part of the Summer Research & Innovation Program (SRIP). Participating in Extended Mentorship excludes students from participating in other SRIP opportunities offered by NCSSM. 

  • During the summer, Durham M1 students are typically on-site Monday through Friday, 8AM-4PM.

  • During the summer, Morganton M1 students are typically on-site most often Monday through Friday for full days, scheduling is dependent on the professional partner.

MR4051 Mentorship: Senior Research II

Prerequisite(s): Requires acceptance to the NCSSM Mentorship 2 or Mentorship 3 program via application reviewed by the Director of Mentorship and Research and committee and successful completion of IE308 Mentorship Explorations with a grade of B or higher and an approved and committed mentor for the Mentorship experience (unless approved by the Director of Mentorship and Research).

Corequisite(s): None

Graduation Requirements Met: One elective credit

Schedule Requirements Met: One of five courses required each semester

Meeting Times: Three periods per week and two labs

Mentorship: Senior Research is a course required for students in Mentorship 2 and Mentorship 3 Programs. This course gives students ownership of their Mentorship opportunity by facilitating students’ professional and personal skills including reflecting on and achieving personal goals, crafting and delivering an effective message, and successfully engaging in a research project. Students will continue to investigate their curiosity and interests by making foundational connections between primary research or professional literature or sources and their own project. As part of this course, students will spend two afternoons per week engaging in their Mentorship experience with an off-campus mentor. A necessary part of that experience includes continuing to build their portfolio of materials demonstrating their growth and skill development, including a set of readings that relate to their particular area of Mentorship interest, a research proposal, a final professional product to communicate their findings, and a record of their reflection and activities throughout the journey. In addition, all students will be required to craft and deliver an oral presentation of their findings to a broad audience at the NCSSM Research Symposium community-wide event in the spring.

• NCSSM’s Summer Research and Innovation Programs Nurture Critical Skills Across Disciplines

• NCSSM Students Gain Full-Time, Professional Research Experience During Summer Mentorship

• The thinkers, makers, and doers of NCSSM’s Summer Research & Innovation Program

• Permission to fail: Trial, error, and deep learning in NCSSM’s Summer Research & Innovation Program

• Sumani Nunna advanced biofuels research as NCSSM student

• UNC: NCSSM faculty members win undergraduate research award

• Aneesh Agarwal '17 blends biology, research, and entrepreneurship

• NCSSM administrators publish in Gifted Child Today

• 2016-17 cohort of 89 student researchers begin mentorships

• Designing improvements for real-world problems

• Monsanto grant helps fund Mentorships

• Burroughs Wellcome Fund announces $1 million gift

All Mentorship courses are added as an additional core course (core elective), so students should consider the overload when making decisions about participating in the program. Students also travel off-campus during their scheduled Mentorhip hours. The commitment to Mentorship does take priority over other extracurrciular activities including athletics practices, games and extracurriculars.  Mentorship should we viewed as a job. 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. 

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, pediatrics, and computer science. 

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. Transportation outside these hours will need to be coordinated on a case-by-case basis with the Director of Mentorship & Research and Director Student Life and may not be available or possible. 

Only students in RHum and RMath can participate in both their R program and Mentorship.