The First-Year and Transfer Student Research Experience (FYRE) program connects high-achieving first-year and transfer students with faculty mentors to work together on research or a creative inquiry project. It aims to facilitate meaningful faculty mentorship with these students while providing early exposure to research, scholarship, and creative inquiry in any discipline.
Students are matched with a faculty project and will work 5 hours per week (80 hours total) during the semester. They will gain important research experience while building a professional connection with their faculty mentor. Students and faculty are paid for their work and mentorship. Students and faculty apply separately.
FYRE Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The faculty advisor should direct the student to complete the IRB training.
Students should work with their faculty advisors on scheduling their working time. The method of tracking work hours will be done at the discretion of the faculty advisor. No official reporting to the FYRE support team is necessary.
Yes.
- The STAIR staff will review and provide feedback to all poster drafts during the summer months.
- Students will have the month of September to make corrections and updates to their poster.
- Three weeks before the symposium, students must submit the final draft for review before printing.
- Students will print the posters and make them available for the symposium.
- The Canvas course will provide training on how to prepare a poster.
- The STAIR staff can also help you prepare one once you have completed the Canvas course. Make an appointment with STAIR.
- You should also ask for guidance from your faculty mentor.
Reach out to the FYRE support team to discuss the best way to present your research in the Symposium.
Faculty mentors will be added to the Canvas course and will be able to see the progress of their mentee if they want to.
Yes, because we won’t be able to know who has sufficient training versus who has not. We would also like to receive feedback from as many students as possible on the training experience.
- Students are encouraged to continue to work on their FYRE project after the program is over if both mentor and student agree.
- However, students are not eligible to apply again and will not be able to be paid through the FYRE program.
- Faculty can apply for FYRE again with the same project to recruit a new FYRE student.
All JMU employees are paid on the same schedule: on the 16th of the month and on the last day of the month. You should receive the first installment on February 16 (assuming Payroll has completed their data entry) and the last installment on May 16.
Absolutely! STAIR runs the Undergraduate Travel Grant Awards program, for which students are strongly encouraged to apply. Deadlines and application instructions can be found on the Undergraduate Travel Grant Award page
