We are seeking PhD students, postdocs, and faculty to mentor undergraduates in Spring 2021. If you might be interested please fill out our Google form by Tuesday, January 5. There is no commitment to mentor until you see the undergraduate researchers' applications.
Mentoring an undergraduate student can be a great opportunity to gain experience, advance your own research, contribute to undergraduate education, and earn a little extra cash.
Mentors earn $500 for attending the training workshop and mentoring one to two students. Depending on funding, you may receive an additional stipend for mentoring three to four students.
We welcome PhD students, postdocs, and faculty who are doing statistics research at Berkeley.
Mentors from related departments like Biostats or EECS are welcome if your project falls into the broad category of statistics research. If you are unsure, feel free to ask Will Fithian or Deb Nolan.
Find a faculty sponsor
Write a research proposal (see project examples here)
Fill out the Google form indicating interest and describing your project
Attend a two-hour mentorship training program during the semester
Meet with your undergraduate researcher for one hour every week throughout the term, and supervise them in producing a poster advertising their results
Meet with the student at least twice during the term and attend a poster session at the end
A good project should be tractable for an advanced undergraduate and self-contained enough that the student will be able to feel some sense of accomplishment by the end of one term. Remember that the undergraduate students who apply will be doing so for educational purposes. As such, please be sure to propose a project that will be edifying for them and is not just menial labor.
For examples of titles and abstracts, see project examples here. You can find even more examples at the website for the Economics department's program. If you are unsure whether an idea you have would make a good proposal, you can discuss it with Will Fithian or Deb Nolan.