Faculty Guidance for Supporting Undergraduate Research

This webpage provides IST faculty with guidance on engaging undergraduate students in research in the college. This guidance was created based on input IST faculty, HR, Career Solutions, Advising, Undergraduate Education, Research, college and academic program leadership, and Penn State’s Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.

The feedback received demonstrated that the process to engage undergraduate students in the college’s research activities should be formalized and that students should get something tangible in return for their efforts – either payment, credit, or both. Based on this input, the college identified three likely scenarios outlined below, along with recommendations for how each scenario should be addressed.

Faculty should review the information presented on the Undergraduate Research webpage for an overview of the process students must complete to secure and register their research experience.

Scenarios for Undergraduate Research

There are three scenarios for undergraduate students to engage in IST research. These recommendations are intended to provide flexibility. While there are unpaid options, faculty are encouraged to pay students when possible. Beyond the brief initial period (Scenario 1), these interactions should be structured, either as a for-credit experience, for payment, or both.

Importantly, the for-credit options should not result in new expenses for full-time students given how Penn State bills students. Students are responsible for registering for the for-credit experiences, just as they would for any independent study. The expectations for faculty are limited (e.g., submit a SAT/UNSAT grade at the end).

Overview

  • Typically lasting up to one month.
  • Allows undergraduate students to learn what happens in a research group and allows faculty to get to know the students.
  • No payment or for-credit mechanism is needed for these interactions.

What Faculty Need to Do

  • There are no formal registration or reporting requirements.

Overview

  • Lasting up to one year.
  • Allows students to continue learning about the research group, but without contributing to group’s productivity.
  • For pay: Paying less than the college’s recommended minimum of $17.50 is appropriate.
  • For-credit: IST 294.
    • IST 294 can be graded using SAT/UNSAT or with letter grades.

What Faculty Need to Do

  • For pay: Contact IST's Office of Human Resources just as you would when hiring any other individual. Please consider grant funding (including REU supplements), salary release, research incentive funding, or other sources you may have that can be used to support undergraduates. If other sources have been exhausted, please see IST_FN-07: Undergraduate Research Funding as another possible source of funding.
  • For credit: Advise the student to visit the Undergraduate Student Research page and submit the information to register for [SUBJ] 294:
    • Indicate which subject area they should select: CYBER, DS, ETI, HCDD,  IST, or SRA
    • Indicate whether they should request a letter grade or SAT/UNSAT grading.
    • Indicate how many credit hours they should register for. This is at the faculty member's discretion, with general guidance being 45 hours per credit, and 1-3 credits being typical per semester.

Overview

  • No time limit.
  • Allows students to continue learning about the research group, while also contributing to group’s productivity.
  • For pay: Ideally, students would be paid the college’s recommended minimum of $17.50.
  • For-credit: IST 494 (which does not satisfy the internship requirement) or IST 495 (which, with 300 hours of effort, can be used to satisfy the internship requirement).
  • For-credit and pay: IST 495 (which, with 300 hours of effort, can be used to satisfy the internship requirement). Ideally, students would be paid the college’s recommended minimum of $17.50.
  • IST 494 can be graded using SAT/UNSAT or with letter grades. IST 495 is graded with SAT/UNSAT grading, and the grade is assigned by the Career Services staff member who manages the internship program. The faculty member/supervisor completes two surveys of the student’s performance, which is a major component of the grade decision.

What Faculty Need to Do

  • For pay: Contact IST's Office of Human Resources just as you would when hiring any other individual. Please consider grant funding (including REU supplements), salary release, research incentive funding, or other sources you may have that can be used to support undergraduates. If other sources have been exhausted, please see IST_FN-07: Undergraduate Research Funding as another possible source of funding.
  • For credit: If the student or faculty member does not want to count the activity as an internship, direct the student to the Undergraduate Student Research page and submit the information to register for IST 494 course:
    • Indicate which subject area they should select: CYBER, DS, ETI, HCDD,  IST, or SRA.
    • Indicate whether they should request a normal grade or SAT/UNSAT grading.
    • Indicate how many credit hours they should register for. This is at the faculty member's discretion, with general guidance being 45 hours per credit, and 1-3 credits being typical per semester.

If the student and faculty member want the activity to count as an internship (300-hour minimum) to meet the required internship for their IST-related major, direct the student to the IST Internship Registration page and submit the information to register for IST 495 course.