The Office of the Vice President for Research is seeking senior faculty members with a record of receiving funding through the NSF or NIH to serve as mentors for the 2022-2023 Propel Research Mentorship Program. Propel mentors enjoy a unique opportunity to provide guidance, input and support for junior faculty members, and develop new professional relationships with mentees, fellow mentors and other Propel supporters.

We encourage all interested tenured senior faculty with a record of receiving funding through the NSF or NIH to consider applying to become Propel mentors. All tenured faculty members (all colleges/schools, all USC campuses) are eligible to apply to serve as Propel mentors. Special consideration will be given to eligible applicants who have strong records of garnering grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and/or the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and to those who have experience serving on NSF and/or NIH study sections.

Selected Propel mentors will be expected to:

• Attend all 2022-2023 Propel workshops (see the Propel call for mentee applications for the workshop schedule)
• Devote time each month to one-on-one meetings and/or other high-quality interactions with assigned mentees
• Review mentees’ proposal drafts carefully and provide thorough, constructive feedback

Propel mentor applications are due by Monday, August 22. Propel organizers will begin selecting and matching senior faculty mentors with mentees after finalizing the 2022-2023 class of Propel mentees, and assignments will be made in the late-August to early-September timeframe. This will help organizers to ensure the best possible mentorship fits based on fields of study, qualifications, etc.

To apply, prospective Propel mentors should log into the Office of the VPR’s awards application system using the same university network username and password they use to access USCeRA, etc. (no new account required). Once logged in, prospective mentors should click the “Create Nomination” button, and then select “2023 Become a Mentor” from the Award Contest options. After selecting the right contest and clicking Continue, the applicant will be asked to answer three simple questions and upload the following required components as PDF documents:

• CV or NSF/NIH biosketch and the past three years of completed/current/pending support documentation
• Cover letter (letter of intent) of about one page describing your qualifications as a mentor, your experience obtaining funding from the NSF or NIH, etc. If you have experience serving on a NSF or NIH study section, please include details on that experience.

If you have any questions about applying to serve as a mentor for the 2022-2023 Propel class, I encourage you to reach out to the organizer for your preferred track (NSF or NIH).

NIH Propel Contact
Michael Beets
beets@mailbox.sc.edu
803-777-3003

NSF Propel Contact
Beth Herron
bherron@mailbox.sc.edu
803-777-2885

 

3 August 2022