Fostering Underrepresented Employees' Resilience and Zeal for Academia (FUERZA)
We are proud to announce FUERZA – a training grant sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
FUERZA has three goals:
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Strengthen the ability of current faculty to mentor across differences and support and engage in research that embraces diversity. Dr. Kia Johnson provided the department with a training that focuses on considerations to increase diversity, establish and strengthen the skills of current faculty, and develop and strengthen a pipeline of diverse students and faculty.
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Increase the number of junior- and mid-career faculty in our department from historically-excluded backgrounds and support these new research faculty.
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Build the pipeline of researchers from historically excluded backgrounds (i.e., racially/ethnically minoritized groups, disabled people, economically disadvantaged groups, women) who are undergraduate students interested in research related to the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.
Current FUERZA Mentors for Undergraduate Students (and their Labs):
Dr. Alt (L4 Lab), Dr. Arizmendi (BABEL Lab), Dr. Darling-White (Motor Speech Research Lab), Dr. Kapa (Language and Cognition Lab), Dr. Kielar (Language and Neuroimaging Research Lab), Dr. Kobel (Vestibular Research Lab), Dr. Plante (The Plante Lab), Dr. Samlan (Voice Research Lab), Dr. Velenovsky (Reflectance Lab)
Undergraduate FUERZA Student Program
FUERZA students will have the opportunity to participate in an SLHS research lab for a paid rotation. During your rotation, you will learn about research and identify goals with your mentor. You will take part in mentoring activities outside your home lab (e.g., applying to graduate school; and learning about research as a career) and be part of the FUERZA cohort.
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Summer Rotation Details: Roughly $4,000 (e.g., 30 hrs/week for 8 weeks)
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Semester Rotation Details: Roughly $2,550 (e.g., 10 hrs/week for 15 weeks)
Eligibility:
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University of Arizona undergraduate student
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U.S. citizenship (due to NIH criteria)
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Available/willing to participate in NIH RCR Certificate Program trainings (scheduled by FUERZA Resource Liaison)
Applications for FUERZA Summer 2025 will open in January. Check back for a link to the application.
Before you begin, please refer to the Current FUERZA Mentors section above and look at all of our research opportunities in SLHS. You will be asked to rank the top three labs of interest to you and write about why you are interested in those labs.
Returning Students:
Students who successfully complete a FUERZA rotation will be eligible (and encouraged to) continue with other paid rotations throughout their undergraduate career. Rotations may be in different labs, or students may stay with the same mentor for multiple rotations. All mentors will receive training in mentorship.
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Are you looking to continue with your current lab placement? Please reach out to austinrandall@arizona.edu to request continuation at your current lab. You do not need to re-apply to remain in your current lab. We will need confirmation from both you and your lab mentor to ensure availability for the following semester.
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Are you a current FUERZA student looking to switch labs next semester? We invite you to reapply using the application link above. A request to change labs will return you to the general application pool, as you will need to re-rank your desired lab placements. Remember to check the research labs page for updated lab information and availability.
Any questions? Please contact Austin Randall austinrandall@arizona.edu.