The Work-Study Research Assistant Program (WSRAP) coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Research offers students who have a 2019-2020 Federal Work-Study award the opportunity to work as research assistants, which helps these students with high financial need to build research skills, explore their academic interests, and forge connections with UConn faculty. The program offers faculty the opportunity to hire an undergraduate research assistant for the year with the student being funded by the federal work-study award. Our expectation is that the research assistant will be substantively engaged in a faculty member's research endeavors. These positions are not to be exclusively clerical or lab upkeep positions.
Faculty interested in hiring an undergraduate student through this program must submit a job description for a research assistant to the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) by August 20th to be posted through JobX system. Faculty should modify the relevant template job description (201, 202, 203, 204, or 205), which they can download at https://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/work-study/faculty/ and which includes additional questions asked of all faculty participants in the program. Faculty have control over the hiring process and are responsible for reviewing the candidates’ application materials, interviewing the candidates (if interested), and selecting a student to hire. The only constraint is that the student must have a 2019-2020 work-study award. The OUR will post the job, collect the applications, and forward all of the eligible applicants to faculty for review. The OUR will only screen the applications to determine if the student has a work-study award.
Upon hiring a student, faculty must complete the necessary Employee Safety Training Assessment (ESTA) with the research assistant to determine the required safety training, and assist the student in enrolling in training courses. Faculty are also expected to discuss expectations with the research assistant, supervise his/her work, and regularly review a time-tracking spreadsheet to ensure the student assistant’s work hours are reported accurately. Note that OUR staff will manage all payroll and timekeeping processes – these will not be the responsibility of your departmental staff.
In addition to their research assistant responsibilities, all WSRAP students are expected to complete one professional development experience and meet with an OUR staff member each semester. A complete list of the requirements for WSRAP students is available on our WSRAP website and is included in all job description templates.
For more information, contact: Jodi Eskin at jodi.eskin@uconn.edu