SURGE Mentor Information
Have a great Computing + X research project for a student? Looking to get involved working with undergraduate researchers? Propose a project for SURGE, the College of Computing’s Summer Undergraduate Research and Growth Experience.
- Opportunity to work with talented undergraduate students on a research project
- Chance to become more closely involved in undergraduate research
- Great way to work on interdisciplinary Computing+X research, meeting other students and mentors working on Computing+X topics and developing a community focused on interdisciplinary research.
- Program provides professional development workshops, structure, bootcamp training sessions, assessment, and community.
- Recognizing the value of applied research, projects may be proposed by either faculty, industry partners, or community partners. Externally proposed projects must be financially supported by the proposing organization at a cost of $10,250 per student. Externally proposed projects are strongly encouraged to have a faculty co-mentor who can help guide the student’s research for the project (we can help identify appropriate faculty after a project has been proposed if not known prior to proposal).
- Projects proposed by faculty must have at least one full-time College of Computing faculty mentor. Recognizing the value of interdisciplinary collaborations, a project can be co-mentored by one full-time College of Computing faculty member and one GVSU faculty member outside of the College of Computing.
- To ensure sufficient attention is provided by mentors to each project, an individual mentor may propose/co-mentor projects requesting at most 2 students (either a single project requiring 2 students or 2 separate projects each requiring 1 student).
- Project proposal applicants (faculty / external partners) will be evaluated on 1) the feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed project for an undergraduate research program, 2) necessary / preferred student background, 3) number of students requested, 4) quality of research advising and mentorship, 5) commitment to the program, 6) fit with the program’s interdisciplinary Computing + X research focus, 7) ability to contribute to a diverse range of projects, and 8) student interests.
- Applications for projects requesting two students will have higher expectations.
- Recognizing the value of attracting students to research, including those with varying backgrounds, the program welcomes applications with a wide range of student projects including those that do not require students have a strong technical/programming background.
- The expectation is that mentors should select projects likely to culminate in or contribute to a co-authored publication with the student(s), recognizing, however, the unpredictable nature of research. Faculty are expected to communicate the intents with regards to publication, what is expected of students to warrant co-authorship vs first-authorship, and any other authors they expect to have on any publications early on in the program. Faculty should recognize that they will likely need to drive publication and may need to provide substantial assistance writing or revising to result in publication. Faculty are also responsible for identifying appropriate venues for publication.
- Join pre-program zoom meetings to meet students, select projects that match with student participants, and help develop a culture of a research community
- Attend pre-program mentor training
- Meet in person at least twice per week with the student(s)
- Be available for other meetings as needed (either in-person or via zoom).
- Be available and respond timely in an electronic communication way of your choosing (e.g. email, slack, discord)
- Provide structure and guidance, helping to establish goals
- Provide constructive feedback
- Model ethical research behavior
- Model ethical authorship behavior including clearly discussing goals regarding publications, authorship ordering expectations, etc
- Actively help the student learn fundamental research skills
- Customize the mentorship based on the needs of the individual student(s)
- Engage pedagogical techniques to help the student researcher learn to work more independently over the course of the summer
- Create a comforting, welcoming environment for students of various backgrounds
- Attend bi-weekly all-mentor meetings
- Create a mentor-mentee contract
- Participate in weekly, whole-cohort research status discussions
- Participate in at least 50% of the program social events
- Complete all necessary paperwork in a timely fashion
- Behave professionally and treat all program participants with respect
- Collaborate with College of Computing marketing / communications team to promote their work, their experience, and the program overall
- Assist and provide support during the student researcher planned summer outreach camp day(s)
- Project submissions open: Early-January 2026
- Webinar for mentor project proposals: Late-January 2026
- Deadline for project proposal submissions: Friday, March 6, 2026
- Initial notification of projects not selected for matching stage: Sunday, March 22, 2026
- All cohort introduction and student-project matching meetings: Early-April 2026
- Notification of whether projects are selected or not: Mid-April 2026
- Additional all-cohort student + mentor zoom meetings for community building and planning: Late April - Early May 2026
- Pre-program student preparation (on their own time): May 2026
- Pre-program mentor training: Early-May 2026
- Program start (first day of program): Monday, June 8, 2026
- Program bootcamp sessions: Monday, June 8, 2026 - Friday, June 12, 2026
- Student-led outreach short day camp: TBA (sometime in late July / early August)
- End of program presentations: TBA (sometime August 3, 2026 - August 14, 2026)
- Program end (final day of program): August 14, 2026
- Innovation Day: TBA (likely December 11, 2026)
- Student Scholars Day: TBA (April 2027)
SURGE Mentor Webinar
Do you have a Computing+X research project that would be great for a student? Are you a faculty member hoping to get more undergraduates involved with your research? Are you a community or industry partner with an applied research project looking to work with talented undergraduates?
Join this webinar to learn more about SURGE, the College of Computing’s Summer Undergraduate Research and Growth Experience. This webinar, designed for prospective project proposers/mentors will provide an overview of the SURGE program, discuss important dates, and provide ample Q&A time for prospective mentors who are considering proposing projects.
Date: February 6, 2026
Time: 2:30PM - 3:30PM
Location: Zoom
Page last modified January 30, 2026