Undergraduate Researchers: Mentees and Mentors

Abstract

This article describes the tiered mentoring approach to undergraduate research at a regional comprehensive university. In addition to mentorship of undergraduate student researchers by faculty and graduate students, tiered mentoring includes high school student researchers. The high-impact practice of student research is particularly impactful at this institution, where 40% of first-year students are first-generation college students, and the campus houses a residential science, technology, engineering, and mathematics high school. The wide variety of opportunities for student research involvement, including opportunities for students to serve in both mentee and mentor roles, has contributed to tiered mentorship becoming a prominent component of our university culture. Strategies for beginning and expanding the involvement of high school students as researchers in postsecondary settings are discussed.