Faculty members and Undergraduates Have a Month to Prepare and Submit their Applications for the Spring 2010 Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program. Up to 20 scholarly projects on which faculty members and students work closely together throughout the semester will be selected in a competitive process. The deadline to apply for the Fall semester is NOVEMBER 15th 2009. The program is designed to encourage Mason's high-achieving undergraduate students to become involved in research and creative projects early in their academic careers, under the guidance of a faculty mentor. A $1,000 stipend is provided to the students selected for the program. Students are also funded to attend several undergraduate research conferences or disciplinary conferences, including that of the Colonial Academic Alliance. Some stipends to cover materials purchased as part of the project are available to faculty who participate. First preference will be given to junior faculty. In addition to meeting and working closely with their faculty members, students will meet as a group three times during the semester to discuss professional development issues, including preparing for graduate school, graduate funding, designing a poster or other professional presentation and writing abstracts. Applications from all disciplines and departments are encouraged. Faculty members and students should collaborate and submit applications online at the following link:. <http://uap.gmu.edu/application.html> On this Undergraduate Apprenticeship website, you will also find suggestions on applying for an undergraduate apprenticeship program, a sample application, as well as the faculty and student application forms. Please note that because of the increasingly competitive nature of the program in the past few semesters, the GPAs of successful student applicants have been significantly higher than the minimum required. Students are eligible to apply for a second apprenticeship, but are less likely to receive a renewal than in past years. Faculty members are eligible to mentor just one student per semester or summer through this program. Please note that we do not match students and faculty--students request that faculty mentor them on a project of their own selection. Summer 2010 applications will be due in mid-April. For more information, please contact Dr. Deirdre Moloney, Director, Fellowships and Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program, at 703-993-2917 or [log in to unmask]