Non-Mentor Pathway

This pathway is for researchers who are not interested in earning college credit.  As such, this pathway does not require any summer work and does not go as deep into the research process as the mentor pathways.  This pathway is also available to first year students who are unable to secure a research mentor, if they are still interested in continuing with the program.

When we get back to school in September, your goal will be to use the knowledge you gained in the previous year and plan a research project.  As you won't have a mentor or access to outside facilities, your research will need to be completed entirely in school.

You will spend the first quarter of this school year writing a formal research proposal.  Any materials, funding, and approvals will also need to be completed during this time.  When your research is ready to begin, you'll develop a timeline for your data collection as your school schedule allows.

By the time the school year ends, the data collection portion of your research should be completed.  You will also develop an outline for your final research paper, and if time allows you may also begin to write certain sections!

Having developed a clear plan to finish your research project before leaving school for the summer, you will pick up in your final year of the course with a clear plan to do so.  Your goal is to have your final research paper completed by December of this year, although that will depend on the nature of your research.

Much like your classmates on mentor pathways, your time in the second semester of the school year will be spent communicating your completed research with the scientific community.  This can come in the form of presenting your research at conferences and competitions, submitting your paper to be published in a scholarly research journal, or even working with government officials to broadcast your research to a much wider audience!