Establishing a Team
New teams are generally recommended for projects that last three or more years and will involve three to six students as the team is established.
Prospective VIP Team Leaders (UA faculty or staff) who are interested in forming a team can optionally email VIP Program Coordinator Dr. Kay Orzech at vipprogram@arizona.edu to request an informational meeting. Some topics of discussion may include: your ideas for your VIP team topic or structure, the benefits of VIP participation for team leaders, ideas on timing your team launch, and pros and cons of enrolling students vs. paying students as part of VIP teams. The VIP Program Coordinator can also facilitate connection with with the VIP Faculty Director, a member of the VIP Executive Committee, or an experienced team leader to answer further questions.
To see how other Team Leaders have described their teams, please visit our Explore Teams page and click on any of the brief team descriptions to see full team pages.
To ensure you are ready to launch a VIP Team, consider the questions below:
- Is your project goal or driving question one that’s large/complex enough to lead to three (+) years of research?
- Will the project benefit both you and the undergraduate students, even if students are not yet highly trained in discipline-specific data collection or analysis skills?
- Will you involve at least 3 students in the project during the VIP Team’s first semester?
- When structuring your team-based research or design project, will you utilize (initially, or eventually) multiple levels of mentorship such as team leader(s), postdoc(s) or grad student(s), and/or upper-level undergraduate student(s)?
If you answered yes to the questions above, please download and complete a VIP Team Intake Form. By completing this form and submitting it, along with an image representing your team to vipprogram@arizona.edu, you will be fully registered with the VIP program! You will receive a response to your email, and follow-up information from the VIP Program Coordinator.
There is no deadline to submit the form below, but please consider submitting your form based on when you would like your VIP Team to begin recruiting student participants. Since many students enroll for credit, a suggested timeline for form submission is:
To recruit student participants for Fall Semester: Turn in form by mid-March.
To recruit students participants for Spring Semester: Turn in form by mid-October.
Note: You will be able to download the form only if you have a UA NetID.