Internal Award
Term Length: Six-month co-op
Needs Institutional Endorsement
US Citizenship Required
Minimum GPA: 3.0

• GPA 3.0 and above
• Full-time undergraduate majoring in a STEM field.
• Co-op experience must be mentored by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member working in the STEM fields.
• Northeastern University celebrates diversity in our community.  Students from underrepresented groups and diverse backgrounds and those with a demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusivity are encouraged to apply.  In supporting this scholarship, the donor’s hope is to attract academically talented applicants who are underrepresented in STEM fields.  This scholarship is open to students from all backgrounds and interested students from all backgrounds should apply to this opportunity.
• Prior research experience is not required.

AJC Merit Scholars are selected on the basis of:

• Academic merit and talent.
• Expressed interest in the work of the proposed co-op.
• Interest in learning more about a STEM-research related career.
• Potential to succeed in the co-op and within graduate study in the STEM fields, more broadly.

AJC Merit Research Scholars participate in a full-time, research co-op in the lab of a Northeastern University faculty member – at a wage comparable to what they might earn in industry.

In addition to financial support for their position, AJC Merit Research Scholars will join a cohort of like-minded peers, who will receive additional mentorship and guidance from the Undergraduate Research and Fellowships office.

AJC Merit Research Scholars will be given the mentoring and hands-on research experience they need to allow them to understand and thrive in a research-based career.

There are two ways to apply for the AJC Merit Research Scholarship:

1. By applying to one of the AJC Merit Research Scholarship Approved Faculty-Mentor Research Co-ops.
2. Through an already established relationship with a research mentor.

Students Applying into Approved AJC Merit Research Scholarship Faculty-Mentor Research Co-ops

The first step will be sharing your résumé through our application system. Here we’ll collect basic biographical and self-reported demographic information.  After an initial screening, qualified students will then be asked to answer five brief questions below on our internal fellowship website. We expect this initial screening to happen very quickly.

After an initial screening, we will ask candidates to answer five brief questions below:

• Identify the co-op opportunity that is most interesting to you.
• Describe that co-op opportunity and the research being tackled in the lab or group. Why is the work interesting to you academically and in terms of your professional goals?
• Describe any relevant knowledge and experience you would bring to bear in undertaking the research co-op. How are you qualified to do this work? This does not have to mean research experience. Think broadly about your skills and capacities, courses you have taken, etc.
• Elaborate upon your larger interest in the research co-op as an AJC Merit Research Scholar. What are your personal and professional goals and how do you see them aligning with the vision of the AJC Merit Research Scholars program? What skills and capacities do you hope to develop over the course of the co-op? Describe how you see the co-op contributing to your larger life goals.
• Describe how you will contribute to the success of the lab’s mission. Share a particular example of a time when you demonstrated a quality that you think will be valuable to the success of the lab.
• A core value of the AJC Merit Research Scholarship at Northeastern is that intellectual community is enriched and enhanced by diversity along a number of dimensions. In particular, the AJC Merit Research Scholarship is interested in supporting students who are members of groups historically underrepresented in the STEM fields and U.S. higher education, in particular members of tribal nations. As a potential AJC Merit Research Scholar, please describe any activities you have participated in that have advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion. How will you contribute to the creation of a talented, diverse, and collaborative community?

Applicants with Identified Mentors

In this version of the application, we ask those of you who have already identified a mentor with whom you want to do a co-op to submit a résumé, a narrative proposal, and a statement of support from the project’s faculty mentor through our application portal. Our application form will collect your biographical and demographic information and the basic information about your co-op interest.

The Narrative Research Co-op Proposal (2-3 pages)

The proposal should be both concise and intelligible to readers outside your discipline—please write for an audience of educated non-specialists. We have designed the application elements to take two to three typed, single-spaced pages to answer. There’s no need to include a cover page. The proposal should contain the following elements, labeled and in order:

• • Introducing the Research Co-op Problem, Challenge, or Question
    • Give a brief but specific statement of the problems, questions, or challenges that will be addressed during the course of the co-op. Ideally the research co-op will be scoped to focus on at least one primary project. Discuss this.
    • Provide relevant background information for the work that will happen within the research co-op, with any necessary citations, to contextualize tit within your disciplinary field(s).
    • Clearly and concisely convey why the project is important, both within your field and more broadly.
  • Proposed Solution
    • Describe what the applicant proposes to do to address or understand or illuminate the challenge during their co-op.
    • List the objectives for the proposed research co-op and how they are appropriately scaled for the duration of a six-month long co-op.
  • Particulars of Plan of Action
    • Provide a specific description of the research  methods being applied during the co-op—how are you going to attain the listed objectives, step-by-step?
    • Consider potential challenges that might arise in undertaking the co-op and how you might respond.
    • Share a preliminary timeline for the co-op and what will happen during the particular stages of the co-op.
    • Clarify the specific role and responsibilities of the AJC Merit Research Scholar within the larger laboratory.
    • Human Subjects: If the project involves human subjects or personal data, there should be clear evidence of the Institutional Review Board’s approval, waiver or anticipated approval. (IRB approval must occur before project begins.)
    • Vertebrate Animals: If the project involves working with non-human vertebrates, there should be clear evidence of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee’s approval, waiver or anticipated approval. (IACUC approval must occur before project begins.)
  • Personal and Professional Preparation
    • Describe any relevant knowledge and experience you would bring to bear in undertaking the research co-op. This does not have to mean research experience. Think broadly about your skills and capacities, courses you have taken, etc.
  • Products
    • Explain the milestones, benchmarks, and criteria that you will use to assess and, if necessary, adjust your project as it progresses.
    • List the expected outcomes from the proposed research or creative endeavor.
    • Describe how you will evaluate the project’s outcomes.
    • How do you plan to share your work? In addition to sharing their work at RISE (which is an expectation of this award), applicants should aim to produce work that can be shared via external venues (a discipline-specific conference, a scholarly or specialized publication, etc.) and should discuss those possibilities here.
    • How will it be shared?
  • Path Forward
    • Describe the skills and capacities you hope to develop through the co-op. How does this project build a path forward for applicants, personally and professionally?
  • Core Values Statement
    • A core value of the AJC Merit Research Scholarship at Northeastern is that intellectual community is enriched and enhanced by diversity along a number of dimensions. In particular, the AJC Merit Research Scholarship is interested in supporting students who are members of groups historically underrepresented in the STEM fields and U.S. higher education, in particular members of tribal nations. As a potential AJC Merit Research Scholar, please describe any activities you have participated in that have advanced diversity, equity and inclusion. How will you contribute to the creation of a talented, diverse, and collaborative community?
    • Bibliography (additional page)
      

Résumé (1 page)
Include a current résumé for the applicant.

Faculty Mentorship
You should arrange to have a statement of support from your faculty mentor submitted by the proposal deadline, indicating the mentor’s willingness to mentor and guide you during the duration of the co-op.

The online application system will prompt you to enter your faculty mentor’s contact details and solicit a letter from them; be sure to do this sufficiently far in advance of the deadline to allow your mentor to submit the letter.