We are proud to announce "FUERZA"
a training grant sponsored by the National Institutes of Health
FUERZA has three goals:
Strengthen the ability of current faculty to mentor across differences and support and engage in research that serves all people.
Increase the number of junior- and mid-career faculty in our department whose lived experiences allow them to explore a broader range of research topics and support these new research faculty.
Build the pipeline of researchers by engaging undergraduate students from historically excluded backgrounds (i.e., racially/ethnically minoritized groups, disabled people, economically disadvantaged groups, women) who are interested in research related to the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.
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.
We expect to enroll students in the Fall of 2025.
Stay tuned for the application, which will open soon!
Eligibility:
University of Arizona undergraduate student
U.S. citizen (due to NIH criteria)
Available/willing to participate in NIH RCR Certificate Program trainings (scheduled by FUERZA Resource Liaison)
Willingness to respond to FUERZA emails, even after graduation from the the program. (We need to follow up on your successes!)
Before you apply:
Please refer to the Current FUERZA Mentors section below and look at the research opportunities in our various labs. 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.
Questions?
Please reach out to Dr. Mary Alt: malt@arizona.edu.
Current FUERZA Mentors (and their labs):
| Lab | Faculty Director | Prerequisites | Preferred Qualifications | More Information |
| Bilingualism and the Brain in Education and Language (BABEL Lab) | Dr. Arizmendi | None | Spanish-English bilingual language skills (not required) | More info |
| Communication Participation and Adaptive Listening Support (P.A.L.S.) Lab | Dr. Darling-White | Sophomore status or higher | None | More info |
| Language and Cognition Lab | Dr. Kapa | Contact for info | None | More info |
| Language, Learning, Literacy, and Lexicon Lab (L4 Lab) | Dr. Alt | None | Experience with children | More info |
| Language and Neuroimaging Lab (LAN) | Dr. Kielar | Interest in cognitive neuroscience & language | None | More info |
| The Plante Lab | Dr. Plante | None | Language Science coursework (not required) | More info |
| Vestibular Research Lab | Dr. Kobel | None | MATLab, Python, or other coding experience | More info |
| Voice Research Lab | Dr. Samlan | Minimum grade of B in Anatomy, Physiology, and Acoustics | Interest in voice | More info |