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Volunteer as a RECCS mentor and make a difference

The Research Experience for Community College Students (RECCS) team is seeking volunteer research mentors (faculty, staff, postdocs, graduate students) to guide Colorado community college students through summer research projects in their labs or field sites. Researchers can be from any discipline at CU, NOAA, USGS, USFS, or other local (Boulder or Denver-based) organizations that conduct research in the Earth and environmental science fields.

These experiences help launch students' careers and are one of the best ways to increase the diversity of our field by bringing in new ideas, perspectives, and innovation.

If you are interested in serving as a mentor, please fill out the short application at the bottom of this email by February 14, 2025. You'll need to provide a brief description of your project, a brief bio, your summer availability, and a list of skills that you are looking for.

Please share widely with anyone who may be interested!

Why volunteer to mentor with RECCS?

A group of people in hiking clothes pose together in a field

“I don’t know of other programs that are focused on community college students. A lot of students are perhaps a bit older than a typical student, they have had some other life experiences, and are coming in with a maturity that perhaps a student that goes straight along doesn’t necessarily have. [RECCS] has been a fantastic experience. I am really glad I signed up; I have had five interns over the last five years.”

Rick Saltus, CIRES Research Associate and previous RECCS mentor

“I come from a background that did not have college education in my family, so community college was always an option given to me and I think connecting with that network is important. We do research in the mountains that you drive by every day, and I think getting students that have grown up here into that ecosystem and learning about the science around them I think is extremely powerful. You don’t have to go to the other side of the world to be doing really great work, you can do it right here as well.”

Molly Huber, previous CU graduate student and RECCS mentor

Two people wearing backpacks kneel in a field to take samples

Benefits of working as a RECCS mentor:

Gain experience advising and coaching others
Help build a more diverse geoscience workforce
Form a rewarding connection with a new colleague
Train in inclusive mentoring
Pursue new ideas in your research

A person wearing a hat and hiking clothes examines a vial with a sample inside in a field of tall grass

Students receive:

9-week research experience working on a guided independent research project with a science mentor or mentor team at CU, CIRES, NOAA, or USGS
$650 per week stipend, plus on-campus housing or travel stipend (where applicable)
Weekly professional development training and support in science communication and basic programming skills

For more information about RECCS please visit our website and navigate to the “Interested in Mentoring” tab.

Questions? Email Alicia Christensen, RECCS program manager, or reccs@colorado.edu.

Apply to be a RECCS mentor today!

CIRES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER HAS PARTNERED WITH NOAA SINCE 1967.