Freshwater@UW Call for Mentors

Did you know we supported 31 undergraduate researchers last summer? Students pursued a wide variety of freshwater research topics– from microbes to maritime artifacts, wet lab chemistry to wetland ecology. The students were supported by Freshwater@UW, a new, cross-site, cross-disciplinary program currently ramping up for its third year. Check out these articles to learn more about the program:

This summer, thanks to generous support from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Sea Grant, the Water Resources Institute and the UW-Madison Graduate School, Water@UW-Madison has funding for at least 27 undergraduates. We hope to recruit a broad range of students for immersive mentored water research experiences at any of the 13 UW System Institutions or affiliated research sites.

Students are on site from early June to early August. Freshwater@UW will cover many of the costs of a student’s participation. We provide $6K in participant support, travel to and from the host site, housing, segregated fees, and $600 for food. Freshwater@UW will also host a general orientation program, professional development activities and a capstone research symposium on the UW-Madison campus. We don’t provide project-specific funding (like field equipment, travel to field sites, laboratory analysis, or mentor salary), but we hope you take advantage of the student support our program provides!

The project submission period has passed for summer 2024. If you have a project related to water and would like to mentor an undergraduate participant, please indicate your interest below. We welcome faculty and staff mentors from a broad range of disciplines. Certain funding sources may require PI status at a UW System Institution. Before submitting a project, review the commitments and expectations for mentors, coordinators, and host sites participating in the program.

Mentor Interest Form

 

We will release a call for mentors early October, 2025.

The call request the following information. You may also provide this information in an email or word document sent to alison.mikulyuk@aqua.wisc.edu

  • Email
  • Your name
  • Institutional affiliation
  • Location of primary research site
  • Project description (~150-200 words)
  • Required knowledge, skills or abilities
  • Preferred knowledge, skills or abilities
  • Tasks to be undertaken by the mentee
  • Work hours / week
  • Keywords

Applications for undergraduates open on Nov. 1 and will close mid-Feb. The program uses a student-driven match process. Students will review project descriptions and rank their top 3 choices. We will then work with mentors to match students to opportunities. Freshwater@UW undergraduates will work closely with water-related faculty mentors or graduate students, gaining an experience that will propel them into graduate study or a career in freshwater.

Reach out to Alison Mikulyuk with any questions (contact info below).

Return to the Freshwater@UW home page.

Program Contact:

Dr. Alison Mikulyuk
alison.mikulyuk@aqua.wisc.edu
UW-Madison
1975 Willow Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1103