Who May Serve as a SURF Mentor?
All Caltech faculty members including research, teaching, and visiting faculty, the professional staff, faculty associates, and members of the JPL technical staff may serve as mentors. Caltech students may also arrange a SURF project with a faculty member at another college or university. A Caltech faculty member must serve as Associate Mentor for students doing a SURF off campus.
The Role of a SURF Mentor
The primary role of the mentor is to serve as the senior partner in a collaboration
with the student. It is important that the student be offered—and eventually
accept—intellectual responsibility for his/her own project, but for most
students the project will be the first research experience, so the mentor must
be a teacher and a coach and a partner.
The primary responsibilities of the mentor are to prepare for the student’s arrival and to help the student meet all of the requirements of the program under which the student is registered; however, there are a number of specific responsibilities that each mentor will have in preparing for the project and in guiding the student through it during the summer:
- Caltech faculty mentors may write an Announcement of Opportunity
(AO) to notify students of potential SURF projects in their laboratories. The
AO should outline the background, motivation, and objectives of the project
and the nature of the work the student will do, and provide literature references
or web sites where the student will be able to learn more about the subject.
The AO must give contact information. Email AO to the Student-Faculty Programs
Office (sfp@caltech.edu). AOs will be posted on the SURF web site.
- Consult with the student on the planning of the project and review a draft of the student's proposal. Note that the proposal should be the student’s product; the mentor may not write it, but may and should provide advice and guidance during its preparation.
- Complete the online Mentor Recommendation Form by the March
1 deadline. Mentors will be prompted by the SFP Online system to complete the
evaluation when the student has submitted his/her application. Contact the
SFPO at 626.395.2885 or via email if you
have questions or need further information.
- Notify the Student-Faculty Programs
Office of the name of the co-mentor, if applicable.
- Mentor must be aware of the date of arrival of the student and make relevant preparations, including providing a place for the student to sit, a computer, and a telephone.
- During the first week after the student’s arrival, the student will be required to attend a Safety Orientation Meeting. Following the meeting, the mentor or laboratory safety officer must review with the student the Workplace Specific Safety Orientation Checklist for SURF/MURF students and, with the student, sign the form. The student must return the signed form to the Student-Faculty Programs Office.
- During the summer, the mentor and/or co-mentor oversees the student's work on the project and consults at regular and appropriate intervals.
- Sign the progress reports and abstract which the student must submit throughout the summer. Mentors must authorize someone to sign the reports in their absence. Mentors should use the progress reports as an opportunity to discuss research progress, problems, etc. Students should use the reports to practice technical writing skills.
- Collaborate with the student in writing the abstract and final
report. The paper must be submitted electronically by the fourth Friday in
September. Mentors will receive a prompt from the SFP Online system to approve
the paper online. November 1 is the deadline for approved final reports.
- If a SURF student continues work on the project during the academic
year, he or she must still submit an interim report by the deadline. A final
draft describing additional work or results may be submitted later for the
SURF archives.
- Help the student prepare for the oral presentation, normally
given during the third week in August or on the third Saturday in October.
An oral report is a requirement for all the students in SFP-sponsored programs.
- Mentors/co-mentors are invited to introduce the student at the oral presentation. We encourage lab groups to attend the presentation to support and encourage the student!
- Contact the Student-Faculty Programs Office [Email us at sfp@caltech.edu or call 626.395.2885] if administrative problems arise.
SURF Compensation
SURF students receive $600/week. Mentors normally pay half the amount,
and the Student-Faculty Programs Office provides matching funds raised from
a variety of sources, including private individuals, corporations, foundations,
and the SURF endowment.
Non-Caltech Students
SURF has extremely limited funding for non-Caltech students; mentors will
usually have to bear the full cost for these students. However, the Institute
has benefited from the participation in SURF by students from other universities;
several have returned for graduate work; a few have become upper-class transfers.
Mentor Recommendation Forms
An applicant’s file contains an electronic application, proposal, and letters of recommendation from faculty at the student’s college or university. Non-Caltech student applicant files will also have a transcript. Mentors will have secure, confidential online access to these application parts. Mentors are required to complete an online evaluation of their applicants.
Mentors will be prompted by the SFP Online system to complete the evaluation when the student has submitted his/her application. Please contact the SFPO at 626.395.2885 or via email if you have questions or need further information.
Vacation Requests
Students may take vacation time during the summer with the approval of the mentor; however, students must complete all 10 weeks of the program before the beginning of instruction in the fall term at Caltech.
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