Faculty Mentors
Faculty Mentor Resources
Network of Faculty for Undergraduate Research (NFUR)
Introduction
Undergraduate research is receiving unprecedented attention from academic institutions and research funding agencies. The benefits of undergraduate research are numerous, among which are: (1) teaching students the process of developing creative ideas, formulating and executing steps toward answers, and presenting the outcome, (2) developing and producing new knowledge, (3) motivating talented students and recruiting them to graduate school, (4) improving student retention, and (5) recruiting talented high school students.
In 2003, the Office of Vice President for Research established an office to foster and promote undergraduate research at the University of Nevada, Reno. The short-term vision of the office was to gather information about current undergraduate research at the University. The long-term vision of the office is to expand and promote undergraduate research through multiple initiatives. One of the initiatives to help undergraduate research succeed at the University is the formation of a network of core faculty who are committed to undergraduate research and who are willing to contribute to formulating and achieving the goals of undergraduate research.
What our faculty mentors say:
“Students gain valuable insight into how projects are developed and implemented and learn to discover their own research interests within this dynamic process.”
"The undergraduate research program is an effective tool to attract good students to advanced studies."
“I think it is a great experience for the undergraduate, in particular, determining whether they would like to get into the field of research and understand what is expected of them when they do.”
Mission
The mission of the Network of Faculty for Undergraduate Research (NFUR) is to develop ideas and implementation plans and foster activities that make undergraduate research at the University a prominent endeavor with ample participation by talented students and enthusiastic faculty. The Office of Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Research, a division of the Office of Vice President for Research will coordinate and facilitate the activities of NFUR.
Activities
Activities of NFUR include but are not limited to: providing ideas for outreach and enhance the visibility; identifying potential fields in which undergraduate research may be expanded; providing information on emerging funding opportunities for UR; form multidisciplinary teams of faculty to develop proposals to tap into new undergraduate research opportunities; identifying organizational and other undergraduate research barriers at the University and means to overcome these barriers.