Information for Mentoring Students in Research

What are my options for mentoring medical students?

There are a variety of ways in which MSU faculty, staff, fellows, and residents and MSU-affiliated community physicianes and researchers can be involved in mentoring students.  

What are my options for mentoring students?

There are a variety of ways in which faculty, staff, fellows, and residents can be involved in mentoring students. Some of the options are below.

  1. The Early Mentors for Research Program (EMR-P), offered by the College of Human Medicine in the Fall of each year, matches 1st and 2nd year medical students to reseach mentors. EMR-P includes incentives of $500 for research expenses OR 10 teaching hours for each medical student you mentor. Read more about EMR-P here: Early Mentors for Research Program. 
  2. Traditional research mentor. A research mentor includes a medical student(s) in their existing, ongoing research or an off-shoot of an existing project. Projects can in clinical areas, basic sciences, epidemiology, medical education, public health and other areas.
  3. ASK-Rationality.  ASK-Rationality is a longitudinal research activity required course for 3rd year medical students. The objective is for students to gain experience in developing a study from the ground up.   Course mentors engage with students in the very early stages of project development.  A study idea is the ideal starting place. It could be the mentor’sor student’s idea. https://www.justintimemedicine.com/CurriculumContent/p/6560
  4. Subject Matter Expert (SME). In this role, mentors serve as advisors or consultants to provide their subject matter expertise to a study. An example of this type of study would be a student with an idea for a clinical research study who needs a clinical expert (i.e. physician) to assist with subject matter content. The student and a member of the CHM Office of Research, or a local campus instructor, would guide the student on research related tasks such as literature searching, study design, IRB applications.  The SME would be involved primarily in subject matter-related discussions related to study design, data analysis, or data interpretation so would not be required to be listed on the IRB and go through IRB trainings.

Where do I register to be a CHM student research mentor? 

The Medical Student Research Group (MSRG) uses an online application system called InfoReady for matching medical students requesting research projects and mentors. InfoReady serves as a one-stop gateway for all things student research. To become part of the research mentor database, go to https://chm-studentresearch.infoready4.com/#. 

What resources do you have to support student research?

The CHM Office of Research and MSU offer a variety of services to help students in their research pursuits.  Some of these options are:

  1. Project development. Can support students in various project tasks, including literature searching, developing a research question, protocol writing, IRB applications, etc.
  2. Statistical Assistance. The Office of Research is partnered with the MSU Center for Statistical Training & Consulting (CSTAT) to offer free statistical support for qualified projects. See this page for more info:  https://research.chm.msu.edu/students-residents/statistical-help
  3. Funding. See this page for more info: https://research.chm.msu.edu/students-residents/chm-msu-funding-request-procedures
    1. Travel Funding. Students may be awarded up to $2000 for travel to present their research.
    2. Research Enhancement Funding. Students may be awarded up to $2000 for research expenses.
    3. Poster printing. Students may receive up to $75 toward the cost of printing a research poster. See this page for more info: https://research.chm.msu.edu/students-residents/chm-msu-funding-request-procedures
  4. Publication funding assistance. The MSU Library has entered into agreements to offer free or discounted publishing in several Open Access journals. See this page for more info: https://lib.msu.edu/about/collections/scholcomm/support/. 
  5. MSU Librarian. The MSU-CHM librarian is Iris Kovar-Gough and she can support you in various ways, including help with literature searching and use of library resources. See here for more info:  https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/prf.php?account_id=26294
  6. Citation Management Software. The MSU Library offers several citation management software options, including EndNote Web, Mendeley, and Zotero. https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/health-sci-research-skills/write-and-cite
  7. Covidence for Systematic Reviews. Free Covidence account through MSU Libraries. https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/covidence
  8. REDCap. The MSU Biomedical Research Informatics Core (BRIC) provides MSU researchers access to REDCap, a secure application for managing online surveys and research databases. Basic use (use that does not require a lot of BRIC custom support) is available for a reduced cost.  https://ctsi.msu.edu/redcap-software

For questions, please contact the Medical Student Research Group at CHM.Research@msu.edu.