It’s that time of year again; the Science Internship Program (SIP) is recruiting graduate students, postdocs, research staff, and faculty to serve as mentors for the summer 2023 intern cohort. As you start to plan for this summer, please consider including a pair of high school students in your summer research project. More information on the program is listed below.
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2023 SIP program dates: Sunday June 25, 2023 through Saturday, August 19, 2023
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Sunday, June 25, 2023: Kickoff and orientation
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Saturday, August 19, 2023: Presentation Day
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Mentors must be available for a minimum of 6 weeks to participate
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Ideally, please submit your research project(s) by: Friday, March 24, 2023
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Mentor Application: Please fill out the SIP 2023 Mentor Application to submit your project for consideration for the 2023 SIP program. All 2023 SIP mentors will need to create an account and password to login (even if you were a SIP mentor in a previous summer). Please make sure to save your login credentials! If you cannot remember your login credentials, please use the “Forgot password” option in the mentor portal or contact us at ucsc-sip@ucsc.edu;
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Number of interns: SIP mentors are expected to take on a minimum of three (3) high school SIP interns per research project. This will allow high school students to work collaboratively and problem-solve between themselves before bringing issues to their mentor. Feedback from past mentors indicates that having two interns reduces the pressure on the mentor to be the sole sounding board / point of contact.
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Mentor agreement form: After your SIP research project is approved, a personalized agreement will be emailed to you with your specific hiring information and stipend amount, as well as the mentor responsibilities associated with the mentor position.
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Live Scan requirement: In order to comply with UCSC’s rules for working with minors, non-faculty primary SIP mentors will be required to undergo a Live Scan involving fingerprinting and a background check. SIP will pay for these Live Scans. Returning SIP mentors from 2022 will likely not need an updated Live Scan.
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Tracking intern whereabouts: SIP mentors will be requested to assist the SIP staff in keeping track of their interns’ daily whereabouts (whether they are working from campus, whether they took/will take the shuttle, whether they are in housing, etc.).
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Stipends: The stipends for 2023 are $4,000 for graduate students (up to 100% summer salary in the combination of all UCSC summer appointments) and $2,200 for postdocs and research staff (in lieu of PTO). Questions about mentor stipends should be directed to SIP staff <ucsc-sip@ucsc.edu>.
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Your summer schedule: To submit a research project via the SIP mentor portal you will need to indicate your availability over the summer. SIP will run for 8 weeks this summer; interns and mentors must be available for a minimum of 6 weeks of full-time work. Please input your summer schedule to the best of your knowledge at this time, and update it by Monday, April 1, 2023 if there are any changes in your summer schedule between now and then. We will hold you to the research project schedule you submit. If anything changes and you are no longer available during a time you indicated the project is on, it is your responsibility to find a secondary mentor to supervise your interns on the research project in your absence.
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Under-resourced high school students: We are working hard to increase the diversity of the intern pool, and we expect a diverse intern pool again this year. In addition to building partnerships with specific local high schools and organizations that serve under-resourced student populations, we are planning to provide support during the summer program to support the student interns as they navigate the world of research. There will be an option for mentors to be included in these scaffolding opportunities on the mentor portal.
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Involving UCSC undergraduates: UCSC’s divisional deans are keen to see greater involvement of UCSC undergraduates in STEAM research on campus. We are therefore asking all SIP mentors to please consider including an undergraduate student on the research project in addition to the high school interns. The undergraduate’s involvement in the research project could certainly extend into the academic year, not just the summer. It may also be possible for the undergraduate to serve as a secondary mentor.
For more information, please visit the SIP website. The SIP mentor FAQ page is also an excellent resource for additional information. We will send notice about upcoming SIP mentor info sessions once they are confirmed.
If you have any questions, concerns, or need clarification, please feel free to reach out to the SIP staff at <ucsc-sip@ucsc.edu>.