The most important component of the SROP is an independent research project. The student is expected to work on the project 15 hours/week. This time will be built into the SROP schedule. Given this time frame, we ask faculty to identify a small, stand-alone project that could feasibly be completed within the SROP. We then ask you to write up to 250 words to describe the project as your “Faculty Research Project Description.”
Example content
The goal of the Faculty Research Project Description is to describe the project that you envision an SROP Student completing in your lab in a way that is clear and interesting to Applicants. At minimum, the research question and methodology should be described in general terms. Ideally, the Faculty Research Project Description would provide the Applicant with a clear vision of their purpose, role(s), and tasks.
You have 250 words to describe your project. Apocryphally, a typical academic sentence is 20 – 25 words, which equates to 10 – 13 sentences to describe the project. Here is an example of how you might use these sentences:
- Sentences 1 to 3 provide a statement of past research findings and an assertion of a research hypothesis
- Sentence 4 provides a high-level description of the research methodology
- Sentences 5 through 7 describe the main points of the research protocol
- Sentence 8 describes the analyses that would be involved (i.e., analytic training the Student would receive)
- Sentence 9 describes the intended impact or contribution of the research
- Sentences 10 – 12 state the specific roles and expectations of the SROP Student
Want to see some examples?
How your Faculty Research Project Description will be used
Applicants will review the faculty research projects to identify and rank their top three projects in their SROP application. Ideally, the students who are selected for the SROP will all get their top research project.
How binding is the Faculty Research Project Description?
Please think up and describe a project that you think is highly likely to occur next summer. That being said, we understand that things change between now and next summer.
In this case, the answer is all about consent: If you are matched with an SROP Student but no longer want to do the Faculty Research Project described, then you need to have a conversation with the student and revise the project collaboratively.