CUR’s New Chemistry Mentor Award to Honor RCSA’s Ronco
The Council on Undergraduate Research and Research Corporation for Science Advancement announce a new initiative to support research within the chemical sciences in honor of CUR past-president and current RCSA Senior Program Director Silvia Ronco.
The Silvia Ronco Innovative Mentor Award, established by a gift from RCSA, will recognize tenure-track faculty members within ten years of their first faculty appointment who demonstrate success in the chemical sciences and whose mentoring practices have supported undergraduate research. It will allow a stipend of up to $2000 per year to each recognized awardee.
RCSA President & CEO Daniel Linzer said RCSA was proud to honor Ronco’s service as CUR president in 2020-2021, which follows past contributions fellow RCSA employees such as Brian Andreen and Mike Doyle have made to CUR and to enhancing undergraduate participation in science research.
“Hands-on research experience can help undergraduates discover what it really means to be a scientist instead of just learning what other scientists have done,” Linzer said. “Coupled with the guidance of a good mentor, these experiences give students the opportunity to determine if they have an interest in, and aptitude for, scientific careers, and position them well for graduate school. No matter what path they take in life, students involved in undergraduate research develop a much deeper appreciation for how science is done, how to frame questions about the unknown that can be addressed through experimentation and theory, and how to persevere through the inevitable challenges that they encounter.”
According to CUR’s executive officer, Lindsay Currie, “Silvia showed great leadership and strength during her year as CUR president, as well as friendship and understanding when the world turned upside down. Her thoughtfulness and abundance of knowledge towards the community was shown in many ways during her years of volunteer leadership at CUR. We are excited to have RCSA honor such an incredible person and CUR member with this award recognition and look forward to continuing this promotion of commitment to mentorship throughout the community.”
When asked her thoughts on this recognition, Silvia Ronco explained, “As an undergrad I felt valued and self-confident doing undergraduate research and being part of a dynamic research group. Without that opportunity, my career would have been very different. My mentor’s connections connected me with who became my postdoctoral mentor at the University of Notre Dame, the reason why I moved to the United States. As a faculty member, I truly enjoyed seeing the growth of undergraduate research mentees who sometimes struggled in the classroom but thrived in the research laboratory. I also enjoyed the opportunity of helping students follow their dreams, not necessarily connected with their undergraduate research projects but using the tools and experiences gained as researchers. As a program director for Research Corporation since 2003 I’m always at awe of the wonderful job the young faculty we support do with undergraduate students, not only making them feel like professionals but helping them develop a sense of belonging and purpose. It is an honor to combine both of these worlds into such an incredible opportunity and to be recognized through an award that I hope will continue to enhance undergraduate research mentorship.”
The call for applications for the 2022 Silvia Ronco Innovative Mentor Award is now currently open with a deadline of March 31, 2022. The first award will be presented during a special recognition ceremony at the ConnectUR 2022 conference.
The Council on Undergraduate Research supports faculty development for high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. More than 700 institutions and more than 13,000 individuals belong to CUR. CUR believes that the best way to capture student interest and create enthusiasm for a discipline is through research in close collaboration with faculty members.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement, founded in 1912, is a private foundation that funds basic research in the physical sciences (astronomy, chemistry, physics, and related fields) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It creates and supports inclusive communities of early career researchers through two core programs: the Cottrell Scholar Program and Scialog.
