Your S&D Experience

To identify a successful S&D project, it is important to consider...

What are your BROAD interests?

When students make their interests overly specific, it often becomes difficult to locate projects. Before beginning the "S&D process," it is important to step back and take a large perspective, really contemplating what broad topics might be of interest to you. This flexible mindset will increase the likelihood and ease of you identifying a mentor with a project on which you can work successfully.

Is the project FEASIBLE?

Considering the time that you have, is it possible and practical to complete the project? Will this project require funds in excess of those already obtained by you or your mentor?  Due to these logistical limitations, it is often best to join an ongoing project or consider undertaking a smaller component of a larger project. Initiating a Do It Yourself (DIY) project is not very easy and should be pursued with caution.

Is there FLEXIBILITY?

Some projects could be very high risk. If so, its good to discuss with a mentor the "backup plan" in the case the project is never fully initiated. Successful mentors often have many projects on which students can work.

Is your mentor CAPE?

It is important to ensure that your mentor is Capable, Available, your Project is of interest to her/him, and s/he is Easy for you to work with. Remember, the key to a successful S&D project is identifying a mentor!

Finding the right mentor is a critical step in developing a positive scholarly experience. Historically, the term mentor can be traced to its origins in Homer's The Odyssey, in which he referred to an advisor. The long-standing and multifaceted role of a mentor is to guide and support you through your work, help you to maintain your focus, provide resources, advise you about dissemination opportunities, and also to offer valuable career suggestions. Guidance in finding a good fit with a mentor is always useful in cultivating this important relationship. Below are some tips from the S&D team.

Research

Start by creating a list of faculty members with whom you might like to work; this list might be based on alignment of overall interests or your attraction to past or current projects. Students most commonly identify their S&D mentors through guidance from the Scholarly Opportunities Online Catalog (where faculty members express interest in student mentorship), faculty websites, course directors, track leaders, and the S&D Team.  Further, former mentors, students, and course directors may sometimes provide referrals to mentors. Students can peruse faculty websites and also use PubMed to find publications of interest.

Contact

If a faculty member shares your broad interests, you might consider contacting her/him, always using professional standards for communication. Students can obtain e-mail addresses and other faculty contact information through the University of Chicago Online Directory.  Please anticipate at least 2 weeks until the first meeting occurs, being mindful of busy faculty schedules.

Meet

When meeting with a potential mentor, the student's aim is to determine whether the faculty member will be a good fit.  The acronym CAPE can help guide you in this process - is the mentor Capable? Available? Is her/his Project of interest to you? Is s/he Easy to get along with?  The following is a list of questions to use during your first meeting to help you to make this assessment.

About the Mentor

• What is your background? How did you become interested in this area?
• How long have you been at the University of Chicago? Do you foresee any changes in your career?
• What is your schedule like? (e.g., Are you in the office/lab every day? How often do you travel?)
• How many students do you currently mentor?
• How many students have you mentored in the past?
• What qualities do you look for in a student mentee?

About the Research

• (If the project is not clear from the outset): The Department website lists your current research projects as X, Y, and Z; is this your most current work? If not, what are you working on now?
• Do you think that my research interests in areas A, B, and C are a good fit with your current project(s)?
• Are there other staff or personnel with whom I may be regularly interfacing?
• Are there specific skills that I should refine prior to beginning work on your project?

Initial Meeting

Meeting with your mentor soon after you have established the relationship will establish momentum and ensure shared goals. This meeting is integral to deciding specifically on what you will be working, any training or prerequisite skills needed, and the timeline over which these activities are expected to occur.

You may have a burning question that you have been waiting to tackle once you got to medical school, knowing that you’d have time dedicated to scholarship.  While this is not completely impossible, it can be extremely difficult. This type of independent scholarly activity is typically what graduate students do during their 3-5 years of dedicated scholarly activity as part of a PhD program. Having said that, if you are strongly considering a DIY project, please be aware of potential barriers...

Study Design

You will be asking and answering your own scholarly question, which will take skill, independence, and motivation. Do you have the necessary requisites to do this?

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Projects that involve prospective data collection need to be reviewed by the IRB and this can take at a minimum 2 months to obtain (1 month to write, 1 month to get approval), with time extending if the IRB board has any questions. Putting together an IRB proposal requires mentorship and skill. Do you have time to prepare your study and IRB proposal, and receive IRB approval before your dedicated scholarship time occurs?

Mentorship

You will need a faculty mentor to serve as a Principal Investigator (PI) on your IRB application. Most mentors are excited to take on students to work on their ongoing interests and projects since they have their own grants and deliverables on which they are working. Because faculty members volunteer to mentor students, faculty may be unlikely to invest in a project unless it is directly related to their own work. Mentoring a student on a project that is entirely from scratch is a bigger time commitment than most mentors are used to.  It is advisable to discuss your idea with a Track Leader or a member of the S&D Team to see if they might know of an appropriate mentor. Do you have a mentor to serve as the PI?

Funding

Finding funding for projects that are “out of the box” is equally as challenging as the project itself. Summer work is optional and summer funds for projects are not guaranteed. Pritzker does maintain limited funds to support students through a variety of mechanisms (e.g., Innovation Fund, Keith Edson) for projects that do not meet the requirements or rigor of  the larger Summer Research Program (SRP). The level of funding for an individual student through these mechanisms may be less than the SRP stipend, and the availability of these funds may vary on a year-to-year basis. Do you have enough funds? Are you okay with waiting to see if you are awarded funding?

myCHOICE Travel Award

The myCHOICE Travel Award is designed to help trainees attend professional development conferences and workshops. The award (for a maximum of $500) is open to applications at any point in the year. The myCHOICE Travel Award is restricted to payment for registration fees, travel, and/or accommodations associated with professional development conferences. Once awarded, the funds are not transferrable to travel to another conference. This funding will not be awarded to attend an academic conference.

Please use the link below to obtain more information and apply: 

https://www.mychoice.uchicago.edu/about-the-program/experience/travel-award/

Expectations

It is important to set your expectations and goals appropriately for your independent project. Publication is not required for S&D. However, many students want to aim for external dissemination. If this is a top priority, you might work on an ongoing project with a mentor who is experienced in publishing with students. Taking your independent project from inception to completion, securing mentorship, and trying to disseminate can be very overwhelming and often is not feasible during your time in medical school. Do you know what you want to get out of your scholarly experience?

Dissemination

Congratulations, you have got your own project, and now you are working on it independently!  No one but you is invested in obtaining or disseminating the results. It is all up to you! Do you have the project management skills you need to get the work done?  Do you know how to write up your results, and further, go about publishing them?  

If your interest persists...

• Meet with the relevant Track Leader or the S&D Team (if the appropriate Track Leader is unclear). In so doing, you may obtain guidance and support on whether your idea is viable in the constraints of the time you will have to devote to scholarly work.
• Consider whether your timeline is feasible given the challenges with IRB, etc.
• Understand funding limitations and be flexible with funding constraints; this may mean seeking multiple funding sources at once or having a back-up plan if funding is necessary.
• Set expectations of your progress and scholarly products in a realistic way, accounting for the greater barriers to completing your work.

No matter which path you choose, we wish you a successful and fulfilling experience!

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Some Guidelines:

Securing your personal device is very important with the amount of sensitive information stored on those devices. We are all at risk and the stakes are high. Secure your device by following the steps outlined in the device specific guidelines located under the Guidelines and Procedures section at http://security.bsd.uchicago.edu/security-policies/.

All devices (e.g., laptops, computer, tablets, and phones) must be protected with strong passwords AND encrypted. If you lose a device that is encrypted, it significantly decreases the burden of proof about data loss. Although it may seem obvious, do not write the password on the encrypted media. For more information, visithttps://security.bsd.uchicago.edu/security-policies/

The use of personally owned devices is covered under UCM Policy 06_POL-BD Personal Computing Device Policy. Ensuring your personally owned electronic device has active encryption enabled on the device is one of the most important steps to follow as part of this policy.

Being able to determine if your personally owned device is secure could be a challenge to verify by the Privacy Program. Without encryption, there is the potential for a breach of patient or other sensitive information if your device, such as your laptop, is lost or stolen. This is especially true if you have your UCM emails or other UCM confidential data available on the device. In certain circumstances, this could require the Privacy Program to have to review emails and other UCM applications to determine potential impacts when the laptop or other electronic device is not in the hands of the owner.

Take a moment to review the settings on your personal device and assure it has encryption enabled either through a program that comes on your device, for example File Vault for Apple devices or Bitlocker for Windows devices, or through a separate encryption software that you purchase and install on your device. It can also be helpful to take a quick screenshot of the active encryption display to save for yourself in case your device is lost or stolen. This could provide important information to the Privacy Program if your device is away from you. Please feel free to reach out me directly or to the Privacy Program with questions.

Never email unencrypted PHI to someone outside of the University. If you must email PHI, the Secure E-Mail Portal provides a secure way for employees to email Restricted information, such as PHI, to recipients outside of UCM and the BSD. For more information, visit the UCM Information Security Office Data Guardian Program webpage at http://home.uchospitals.edu/ ;
Go to Quick Links on the left hand side of the screen and click on “Information Security Office” > Data Guardian Program.

Everyone must enroll in 2Factor Authentication (2FA). 2FA enhances the security of your CNetID by using your phone to verify your identity. This prevents anyone but you from using your account to log in to University websites, even if they know your CNetID password. Please visit https://2fa.uchicago.edu and click on
‘Go to 2Factor’ to enroll today!

Never store restricted information in an unencrypted state where it might be compromised. This includes removable media such as flash drives and CDs. UChicagoBox — a cloud-based file storage and sharing service is available for storing patient information (HIPAA). Please visit
http://security.bsd.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/UChicago-Box-Instructions-for-BSD.pdf for instructions on how to use the UChicagoBox, as
well as a step by step guide on how to secure Restricted information.

University Treatment of Confidential Information – 601. This is considered restricted vs. not, misuses of data, and consequences if confidential information is misused:https://humanresources.uchicago.edu/fpg/policies/600/p601.shtml

BSD Information Security Office           
UCM Information Security Office           773-702-3456
UCM Privacy Program                           773-834-9716
Anonymous Resource Line                   1-877-440-5480, select option 2