MindMax Research Fellowship Proposal
The North American Association of Summer Sessions, in partnership with MindMax LLC, is sponsoring research intended to advance Association members’ understanding of the role of summer and intersessional programming in the advancement of student progress and student success in higher education.
The fellowship has an overall duration of fifteen (15) months including a 3-month startup window. The total value of the fellowship award is a maximum of ten thousand US dollars (US$10,000). The submitted research budget may include individual stipend, as well as equipment, travel, and other related expenses that can be demonstrated as being directly related to work for the proposed research objective.
The successful candidate will be selected based on individual qualifications, quality of the research proposed, ability to demonstrate support (financial or non-financial) from their home institution, and relevance to the themes identified for this iteration of the fellowship. Since research of this kind is extracurricular to most members’ core work functions, candidates are also asked to identify a sponsor/mentor at their home institution who may be contacted to ensure the candidate’s home institution and direct supervisor are aware and supportive of the candidate’s research efforts.
Finally, a key focus of the research project is to utilize aggregated data obtained from across the diversity of NAASS member institutions.
For this reason, the successful candidate’s application should demonstrate their understanding of the necessary research protocols, their knowledge and ability to bring together data from multiple institutions, and the ability and willingness of their home institution to effectively store and protect acquired data necessary for the proposed research.
The themes for 2023 are:
1.) Using aggregated longitudinal data from across NAASS’s institutional membership, research the interrelationship of different kinds of summer and intersessional programming: including pre-college, undergraduate for-credit (home institution and visiting), and non-credit programming.
2. ) Using aggregated longitudinal data from across NAASS’s institutional membership, research the role of summer and intersessional programming in persistence, retention, and graduation.
3.) Other areas of in-progress inquiry presented at the 2023 NAASS annual conference may also be submitted for consideration. These proposals should describe how additional aggregated data from across NAASS’s institutional membership, research, and support will lead to fruitful research outcomes.
Please submit all application materials using this form by February 1, 2024. Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Once selected, the fellow will receive funding in installments over the granting period, with the final installment paid upon submission of the final report