Honors Research Consultant (HRC) Program

The Honors Research Consultant (HRC) Program supports honors-augmented E-Series, other honors-augmented courses, and the writing component of honors e-series (where warranted by class size). See here  for the definition of an honors-augmented course. All other requests for graduate student personnel assistance should be directed to the new Grants for Engaged Learning (GEL) Program.

The current application period is closed, and expected to reopen in fall semester 2016. Please check our website frequently, as future application windows and materials will be updated. If you are interested in integrating an Honors Research Consultant (HRC) in the future, please see last year’s HRC faculty request form below to get an idea of how the application process works, including the course syllabus requirement. If you have any questions, please contact Jeff Badger; Honors Program, or CRE Interim Director Latika Young.

HRC Faculty Request Form (only available for honors-augmented and honors e-series courses; go here for all other courses)

The Honors Research Consultant (HRC) program is designed to bolster research opportunities for undergraduate students as part of their coursework. Modeled after the highly successful GRC program at UNC-Chapel Hill, FSU's Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement launched its pilot program during spring semester 2013.

The HRC program supports faculty who wish to integrate a research project or assignment into an honors-augmented course by providing a $1,000 stipend to fund an advanced graduate student (an Honors Research Consultant) who works with the students (40+ hours throughout the course) to help them design, implement, and share research projects. Although flexible in design, the research component would typically take the form of individual or group projects that enable the students to develop research questions, collect and analyze data, and share their results via a presentation. To see a sample syllabus from an HRC-supported course, please click here.

The HRC is not the same as a TA. HRCs have extensive knowledge in research methodology and their role is to help facilitate the research process; they are not involved in grading students’ work or administering the class and are not required to attend all class sessions. GRCs might attend selected classes to discuss research but are primarily available to coach students/groups during individual or group consultations, thus providing the students a more directed and experiential research experience than would otherwise be possible without the facilitation by the GRC.

*Graduate Research Consultant (GRC) and Honors Research Consultant (HRC) are used interchangeably.

Collaborating with a HRC provides numerous potential benefits, including:

  • Logistical support for promoting undergraduate student research, making the overall process more convenient for the faculty instructor.
  • The opportunity to engage more undergraduate students in the research process in a directed manner that may also prompt future independent student research.
  • HRC may be familiar with certain research methodologies, statistical methods or software that complement the faculty’s expertise.
  • Graduate student professional development that also encourages them to include further research opportunities for undergraduates during their own future faculty member careers.

Undergraduates who have participated in the program have reported numerous positive impacts of their participation in an HRC-assisted courses, including gaining practical, “hands-on” experience, introduction to useful library and online resources, increased fluency in statistical methods, and an overall boost in confidence in conducting and presenting original research.

HRCs are available to collaborate with faculty from across the disciplines of sciences, social sciences and the humanities, in classes ranging from introductory to advanced level courses and that range from a small to large number of students. Faculty members are able to select one HRC for each course, either by choosing a graduate student with whom they have previously worked, or by forming a new collaborative partnership. Faculty may seek recommendations from colleagues both within and outside of their own department, and it is possible to collaborate with HRCs from other departments.

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