UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #825

Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Rebecca Ballard
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: she/her
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?: Dr.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): rebecca.ballard@fsu.edu
Position Title: Faculty
FSU College (if applicable): Arts and Sciences
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: English
Headshot (optional): https://cre.fsu.edu/system/files/webform/urop_project_proposal_portal/14751/Ballard%20headshot.jpg

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above): {Empty}
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Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Genre Frictions: Structural Violence, Activist Forms, and Contemporary American Fiction
Project Keywords: literature, environmental justice, American studies, fiction, genre fiction, science fiction, speculative fiction
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 4
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
English or other humanities field preferred. Students outside of the humanities with interests in social movements and/or environmentalism are also particularly welcome to apply.

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: ~5
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
Students who apply to this project will be working with me as I complete the manuscript for my first book. The book itself studies U.S. fiction in relation to social movements from the 1960s to the present, examining how both fiction writers and political movements had to craft new forms of storytelling to communicate effectively about structural and environmental forms of harm. In particular, the book connects the rhetorical and theatrical work of activists to the way that novelists experiment with speculative genres such as science fiction, apocalypse, magical realism, and the gothic. Each chapter identifies a particular instance or form of indirect or structural environmental harm and comparatively analyzes how activists and two novelists responded to that issue.

Research Tasks:
Manuscript preparation, locating and checking references, bibliography

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Required: familiarity with library databases and resource location, general knowledge of academic citation
Recommended: familiarity with Chicago Manual of Style (at minimum: willingness to learn with supervision and support), proofreading

Mentoring Philosophy:
When I work with undergraduate researchers, I am committed to crafting a mutually beneficial relationship: not only should I be receiving valuable support on active research projects, but the students with whom I'm working should be receiving mentorship, supervision, and training in discipline-specific research methods and scholarly areas. Because my scholarship is interdisciplinary in nature, extending across English, American studies, and environmental studies, and because this project in particular is a manuscript with multiple chapters each with a slightly different theme, I am able to match students with the particular "slice" of the project that is most directly connected to their own scholarly interests, and I work to help bridge the research they are doing for me into their own research (past students, for instance, have completed senior theses and honors projects building on research we did together, and past projects have led organically to co-authored publications in major peer-reviewed journals). To achieve these goals, I practice a style of research mentorship that focuses on building confidence as well as skills, maintains clear and consistent lines of communication for questions, reactions, ideas, and feedback as ideas and work progress, and respects and leaves room for students' evolving interests to shape their work with me.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable):: https://www.rebeccamoballard.com
Please add any additional information here (if applicable)::
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Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable?: Yes
Roundtable times and Zoom links:
Wednesday September 4, 2-2:30 pm, https://fsu.zoom.us/j/95485843190
Thursday September 5, 11-11:30 am, https://fsu.zoom.us/j/92972551061

Roundtable Info:
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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes

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Year: 2024
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