Peer Mentor Position Description: STEM Success
Are you passionate about STEM education and helping other students succeed? If so, this is the right job for you! Peer mentors get paid to help new students navigate their first year in engineering at UB. You’ll be a buddy, a coach, and an advocate for your mentee(s) starting in summer 2022 and continuing through the 2022-23 school year.
Our ideal mentors have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, want to help first year students successfully transition from high school to college, and are enthusiastic about developing leadership and mentoring experience. They’re supportive, willing to learn, and excited to share their knowledge with others.
What will I do as a peer mentor?
• Reach out to mentees starting in summer 2022 and sustain the mentoring relationship throughout the 2022-2023 academic year.
• Attend leadership, professional development, and academic skills workshops and other events with your mentees.
• Document mentee interactions and mentoring activities via the Navigate platform.
• Participate in training to ensure you’re well-prepared to serve as a mentor.
How much time will this take?
• Mentors are paid for approximately 6 hours a week during the semester, including direct contact with your mentor (in person or via text/writing), office hours for peer mentoring groups, and weekly meetings for professional development.
• Additional training sessions will occasionally also be required.
What will I do over the summer? Do I have to be on campus?
• Most mentees will be enrolled in ULC 148, Pre-Calculus, in a five-week summer term. Mentors will be asked to sit in on one class per week (Zoom) to get to know their mentees. You can do this from wherever you’re at over the summer.
Peer Mentor Required Qualifications
• Enrolled in a SEAS major in spring 2022
• Sophomore, Junior, or Senior status in fall 2022
• 2.75 GPA and good academic standing in SEAS
• No disciplinary holds
What are the benefits of being a peer mentor?
• Populate your resume with meaningful leadership and coaching experience.
• Opportunities to connect with SEAS faculty, staff, and leadership to promote student success
• Add a CRLA peer mentor certification to your resume.
• Money! You’ll receive a stipend for each semester that totals $2000 – $500 stipend to be paid for the Summer Semester and $750 stipend(s) for both Fall and Spring semesters. * You may be paid in campus cash if you hold other campus jobs and/or have work-study*
What am I committing to if I apply and get hired?
• Commit to being a mentor for the ENTIRE 2022-2023 academic year, also including a 5-week period in Summer 2022.
• Proactively engage with students throughout the entire academic year and meet with them individually (In-person/Online) at least (4) times per semester.
• Thoroughly document all your engagements in the Navigate system Weekly
• Be responsive to program administrators when contacted
• Check-in with program administrators on a monthly basis
• Attend and Participate in Peer Mentoring events
How to apply?
Submit your application online! Contact ubengineer@buffalo.edu if you have questions.
- Paid Summer Programs for Underrepresented Students: Discover Law – Tuesday March 1st at 3pm – Honors Faculty Lounge – Open to all students – RSVP Here:https://forms.gle/6m1fYrNPQeGVVAiE9
- The 2nd part of our paid summer programs for underrepresented students features the Discover Law program, a 4-week, paid, immersive experience at the UB School of Law. Amber Melvin ’13 will be on hand to share more about Discover Law, as they are currently accepting applicants for this summer! RSVP Here: https://forms.gle/6m1fYrNPQeGVVAiE9
The NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funds a large number of research opportunities for undergraduate students and supports active research participation by undergraduates in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects. This type of summer experience is important if you plan to pursue graduate studies. It can greatly strengthen your resume.
Each student accepted in an REU program is associated with a specific research project, where they work closely with faculty and other researchers. Students are granted stipends to cover living expenses and, in many cases, are provided assistance with housing and travel. To be eligible, you must be a US citizen or permanent resident.
By using NSF’s web page, Search for an REU Site, you can find opportunities across the U.S., in the subject areas supported by various NSF units. Also, you can search by keywords to identify sites by a particular research topic or with certain features, such as a particular location.
For information and application materials, contact the individual funded sites. NSF does not have application materials and does not select student participants. A contact person and contact information is listed for each site.
If you are interested in applying to an active REU site within SUNY, please review the information and links below. We’ve included an REU site from NY Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center as well.
Posted by Tim on February 17, 2022 in Academics, Event
The SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC) brings together undergraduate student researchers and faculty mentors from across the SUNY system for a full day of multidisciplinary activities, including sessions devoted to student presentations (oral, performance, artistic displays, and poster), luncheon with keynote speaker, a SUNY Transfer, Graduate School and Career Fair, and professional development workshops for students and for faculty.
Why SURC?
Original research and creative activity are widely recognized as high-impact educational experiences that positively affect undergraduate students’ completion rates, career prospects and readiness for graduate study. Most SUNY campuses encourage such research and creative activity throughout the curriculum, through independent study and capstone experiences and/or via internship placements, and invest in opportunities for students to present their work. This allows students to engage critical audiences in their learning processes and hone the professional communication skills necessary for higher-order scholarship and career success. Frequently those institutions do so by sending their students to professional conferences and events. While such participation allows students to develop further confidence and academic skills and to network beyond their campus by presenting their work to students and faculty who specialize in their research fields, this opportunity often comes at a steep cost of sending students to distant conferences.
SURC provides similar networking and academic enrichment opportunities for students throughout the SUNY system at lower costs and more convenient locales. This year’s SURC will be a face-to-face event.
By bringing together many hundreds of students and faculty from across the state to participate in the SURC, we will help realize the synergistic power of the SUNY system. Students will benefit from networking and academic enrichment opportunities and learn about transfer and graduate programs available across SUNY. Faculty will benefit from networking workshops on integrating student research into their pedagogy or building research and grant collaborations.
SURC is supported by the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost, and the Research Foundation, as well as SUNY student and faculty governance organizations and, of course, the local host site.
All undergraduate students engaged in research/creative activity and their mentors across SUNY are invited to attend!
Posted by Tim on February 17, 2022 in Event
This group provides a supportive environment in which
people who hold white privilege can explore and question
their roles in the perpetuation of racism. Among other
things, group members examine various aspects of white
privilege and gain understanding about how they can
become allies to People of Color. This is open to both
undergraduate and graduate students.
DATE & TIME :
WEDNESDAYS FROM 2:30-4P M
LOCATION : ZOO M
Posted by Tim on February 17, 2022 in Academics, Tutoring
211 Baldy Hall
We Tutor:
MATH 121, 122, 131, 141, 142
ULC147 AND 148
We are OPEN 10:00 am to 6:00 pm,
Monday thru Thursday – stop by!
We help with quiz/test, homework questions.
JUST DROP IN – NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED!
Live + Work Pop-ups – Finding that job or company that launches your career is just as important as discovering your favorite restaurant or next selfie spot when designing your life after college. Keep an eye out 
for the blue and white tricycle around campus spotlighting a few up-and-coming cities.
New York City | February 24 | Student Union Lobby
Buffalo | March 9 | Student Union Lobby
Singapore | April 12 | One World Café
How I got started in Business without a Business Degree
Dive into the stories behind UB alumni who broke into some of the fastest-growing companies. Get all the hacks to help you thrive in the corporate world without a business-related degree.
Featured Alumni Guests:
Allison Colavito ’20, Joe Konze Jr. ’14 and Cailyn McCarthy ’18
Career Building Skillshops – Start building top skills that employers want in today’s job market. Here are some of our most popular skillshops.
>>See all upcoming skillshops
+PLUS: Join our career experts every week for our Resume + Online Profile Labs.
GloBULL Navigation – Introducing a weekly session that helps international students navigate every step in the American job or internship search.
Paid Summer Research!
Are you interested in Indigenous Studies and the Aleutian Islands of Alaska? Do you think it would be exciting and fun to live outside on a remote Aleutian Island for a month? If yes then this may be the summer research opportunity for you.
Our NSF-funded research team is seeking up to 2 students to join us for a mid-May – June 2022 archaeological field season on Agattu Island, Alaska. The work will be archaeological but no experience is necessary, we will train you. This position may be of particular interest to students of Indigenous heritage.
Please see our website for more details on the full research project: https://ine.uaf.edu/werc/aleutian-mercury
You must:
- Be a student (undergraduate or graduate) at University at Buffalo and eligible for campus employment through the summer,
- Have a good attitude under adverse outdoor conditions,
- Be able to tolerate long flights, traveling by boat, and extremely limited communication with the outside world,
- Be able to take part in field activities including digging with shovels, hauling heavy buckets, hiking on uneven ground in wilderness conditions.
Please email your application by February 25st 2022 to Drs. Caroline Funk (cfunk@buffalo.edu) and Nicole Misarti (nmisarti@alaska.edu). Feel free to contact us before hand with any questions.
Include in your email:
- Any relevant field work (even if not archaeological)
- your CV/resume (include your GPA)
- Names and contact information of 2 references
CSTEP & Summer Research Program Info Session for Honors Students – Thursday February 17th at 5pm – Zoom
- CSTEP was originally going to be part of the workshop with LSAMP and McNair but a scheduling conflict prevented that. Therefore, they will be hosting a zoom info session at 5pm on that Thursday. Come learn about the opportunities that CSTEP offers and how it can benefit you! They are also accepting applicants for their paid summer program. RSVP before Wednesday, February 16 at: https://www.tinyurl.com/CSTEPSession
Get Seeded: Need some funding to get your idea off the ground? Monthly Get Seeded pitch events are for aspiring University at Buffalo student entrepreneurs. Sign up for a chance to pitch your idea, where the audience decides if you get seeded! No props or slide show decks allowed, just you and your pitch.
Event Date: Tuesday, February 15
Worlds Challenge Challenge: Do you have an idea that can make the world a better place? The World’s Challenge Challenge asks UB students to think BIG during this 7-week design challenge. We will focus on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals our university has created and task students to create solutions.
Equity in Entrepreneurship: The Equity in Entrepreneurship campaign looks to connect and highlight our student entrepreneurs of color. We believe representation matters and want to encourage students to be bold in their ventures. Looking to get involved and excel your skill set? This program will help you get there.
Tapecon/Protoscale Innovation Sprint: UB students, faculty and alumni build Protoscale spin-off businesses from a portfolio of manufacturing-ready technologies. The technologies will be pre-vetted. The best teams/business models will be invited to utilize Tapecon, at no cost, for prototyping their solution (MVP) and initially selling/marketing the solution. They also have the opportunity to enter the Cultivator, which can provide up to $100k funding. In the Cultivator, Tapecon will act as a “big brother” providing CTO services, strategy advice and potential first customer intros.
emPower Pitch: This competition promotes aspiring female entrepreneurs – it’s focused on female-led, managed and/or owned ventures and ideas. This pitch competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students at UB with the opportunity to pitch their idea for cash prizes. The final competition will consist of 10 teams presenting a 3-minute pitch for the ultimate prize.
