Divisions – Engineering Leadership and Mentoring Awards

The Engineering Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the CUR Engineering Division’s Leadership and Mentoring awards.  The Engineering Division aims to recognize both those who directly mentor undergraduate researchers as well as those who administratively enable the institutionalization of undergraduate research on campuses.  

1. Early-Career Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award (ECURMA) – awarded annually, but recognized biannually
2. Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award (URMA) – awarded annually, but recognized biannually
3. Leadership in Undergraduate Research Award (LURA) – awarded biannually (even years)

Deadline

For 2024, we are soliciting nominations for the Mentoring and Leadership awards. Nominations were due by April 15, 2024.

Award Criteria

Mentoring awardees play a major role in advancing undergraduate research in engineering by promoting discipline specific activities that may include the following:

• Demonstrating a strong track record of scholarly products (e.g., journal articles, conference publications/presentations, posters, book chapters) involving undergraduates  
• Providing mentorship to undergraduate researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds and identities
• Supporting students in their efforts to disseminate their research
• Encouraging or supporting students to gain broader research opportunities (e.g., internships, REU programs, graduate programs)

Leadership awardees play a major role in advancing undergraduate research in engineering by: 

• Spearheading efforts to institutionalize undergraduate research on their campuses (e.g., curricular initiatives, program development) and across the nation
• Securing support for student research activities
• Initiating or operating faculty mentoring programs to support undergraduate research
• Recognizing and utilizing undergraduate research as a tool to promote diversity and inclusion

Nominee Eligibility

• Membership in CUR is encouraged but not required for mentoring award nominees.
• Membership in CUR is required for leadership award nominees.
• Nominees for the ECURMA should be pretenure or, in the case of non-tenure track positions, have less than 6 years in current position.
• Administrator letter of support must be from the nominee’s current institution.
• All awards are open to tenure-track, non-tenure track, and staff members. 

Nominations

No self-nominations are allowed.  The nominator does not need to be from the nominee’s current institution; however, the administrator letter of support must be from the current institution. Nomination materials should address the criteria listed above and may also elaborate on the CUR Strategic Plan.

Nomination Process 

Applications should be compiled into one pdf package containing the following items.  Submit nomination materials online as one PDF, 16MB maximum file size.

1. Nomination letter (2 pages maximum)
2. Abbreviated CV (3 pages maximum); indicate undergraduate coauthors or presenters if applying for the mentoring award and highlight appropriate activities associated with the leadership award
3. Letters
   1. For Mentoring Awards: Two student letters that show the impact of mentoring, addressed to the nominator (1-page maximum per letter)
   2. For Leadership Awards: Two recommendation letters from either students or faculty impacted by the candidate’s activities, addressed to the nominator (1-page maximum per letter).
4. Administrator letter of support (1-page maximum)

Review Process

The review committee will consist of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 CUR engineering councilors or prior councilors. Recipients will be notified by May 20, 2024, via email.

If you have any questions, please contact David Bahr. 

Please note that all CUR award recipients are responsible for any and all applicable tax obligations associated with the receipt of the award.

Engineering Leadership and Mentoring Award Recipients