1. Aubrey Kuperman, Valerie Kessler, Grayson Lanza
Student Leadership: How to Leverage Peer-To-Peer Outreach to Spread the Word
Aubrey Kuperman, Valerie Kessler, Grayson Lanza

2. OUR Student Leaders Peer Mentors (In-Office) – est. 2010
Student Undergraduate Research Council – est. 2007
SRA Peer Research Mentors – est. 2004
Discussion

3. Part I
Peer mentor advisors/
Student Assistants

4. Peer Mentors (year-round)
Student employees
Target: recent graduates or upper-classmen with light class schedules
Must be experienced undergraduate researchers
Recruit over summer to train before fall starts

5. Advertising

6. What do Peer Mentors do? Peer Mentors cover the following topics:
How to get started
Finding a mentor and/or structured program
How to reach out to a faculty member
How to make the most of research
Funding and travel
Dissemination opportunities
Everything else!
In office, they also help us organize other outreach by running our social media and other projects

7. Using Technology to Improve Efficiency
Implemented a sign-in survey in Spring 2016:
This helps us target which programs to talk about and what publicity to hand them
Shortens our appointment times some and let’s us see more students
Let’s us track who is coming to see us
And why!

8. Why do students make use of this service?
Spring 2016 semester (221 students)
170 students came in to figure out how to get started (79%)
57 students came in to find out more about opportunities open to current researchers (26%)
A small number came in to follow-up on a previous appointment
Fall 2016 (156 students between 8/24-10/14)

9. Who makes use of this service? (Fall 2016, 8/24-10/14)
Are you a transfer student?
36%
64%
Have you been to a Getting Started workshop?
Biomedical Sciences
Health Sciences – Pre-Clinical
Mechanical Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Psychology
16%
Top 5
Majors
84%

10. Part II
Student undergraduate Research Council

11. Student Undergraduate Research Council
Requirements:
Minimum 1+ semester of research experience
2.5 GPA
Plan to continue researching during SURC term
Application:
Online (use Qualtrics) and an in-person interview
25 applications for 10 spots this year
One full day of training after the end of Spring term
Serve one-year term (Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters)

12. This Year’s SURC https://our.ucf.edu/about/surc.php
This year’s cohort:
Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology
Psychology
Political Science and International and Global Studies
Engineering (Mechanical, Environmental, Electrical)

13. What does SURC do? They’re our megaphones on campus, they:
Table at all campus-wide events
Represent the office at every Orientation session
Speak to classes and clubs
Run our Facebook group (~1900 members)
They’re our sounding board when we wonder, “What would students think?”
2 Committees:
Marketing and Outreach
Communications and Development
Over 115 hours
since May!

14. What’s in it for SURC? Research funding (up to $300)
Materials for their research
Travel to conference
Scholarship (if they publish through our on-campus journal)
Annual trip to FURC
Nametags, pad folios, and polos!
A great letter of recommendation
They must complete 15 hours of outreach and be in good standing to receive these benefits!

15. Part III
Sra peer research mentors

16. Summer Research Academy
This is a one-credit, three day course event held annually since 2004
About 110 students from all various disciplines participate in the event
Each group is lead by an experienced undergraduate researcher
The course introduces students to research on campus
Basics: what is research, programs available on campus, how to find a mentor
Skills: resume building, literature review
Activities: grant reviewing, lab visits, graduate school panels, mini-workshops

17. SRA Peer Research Mentors
Role: Teaching assistants for 3 day “Intro to Research” course
Current undergraduate research students or recent graduates
Hired by discipline: based off of the applications we receive for student participants
Recruitment: starts mid-Spring
Application is on the website, with student application
Target successful researchers: publicity goes out to all Showcase participants
Training: Full 8 hours of training before the course event
Focuses on the curriculum and on facilitating discussion

18. Responsibilities
3 days in-person with group of 8-10 students (discipline- specific groups)
Serve as the primary point of contact for their students
They lead discussions
Facilitate course requirements
Grade student work
1 day of grading a few weeks after the event, as a group

19. Costs Peer Mentor Advisors (2) SURC SRA Peer Research Mentors (12)
(10)
SRA Peer Research Mentors (12)
Hourly wage: slightly above minimum wage
Nametags: ~$20
Polos: $225 (ordered in bulk)
Nametags: $75
Food: $500
Reward funds: Up to $3000
Mentors: $4000 in wages ($10/hour)
Food: ~$100
T-Shirts: ~$200(ordered in bulk)

20. Part IV
Discussion: How do you incorporate students?