JHU Summer Research Experience

CCBC Honors Program students are eligible to apply for the selective Mellon Scholar Summer Research Experience, a 10-week paid program in partnership with Johns Hopkins University. Each year, CCBC Honors Program students are admitted to this program, which introduces them to the techniques of humanities research while building a learning community around a project.

Students selected for the Mellon Scholar Summer Research Experience receive a competitive stipend, allowing them to focus on their educational goals. They select classes in a variety of research topics, such as the digital humanities. They also travel to the Leadership Alliance National Symposium, where they present research, network and take advantage of professional development opportunities.

Application will open in Spring 2022!

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for the Mellon Scholar Summer Research Experience includes the following:
  • Member of the Honors program
  • Rising sophomores and recent graduates preparing to transfer to JHU or other four-year institutions
  • Current or intended major within the Humanities 
  • Applications include a short essay about future goals and how this experience will contribute to these goals, a resume, and indication of your summer availability. 

Application Process

All application materials must be submitted by the deadline, TBA for spring 2022. If the application is incomplete, then it will not be considered for the Summer Research Experience.

Upon review of your application, you may be invited to interview with the Director of Undergraduate Research from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Interviews will be scheduled on each campus during the beginning of March. Details will be provided in the interview notification.

Students will be notified of the decision for the Summer Research Experience after all interviews have been conducted.

Mellon Scholar Summer Research Experience details

Students participate in various sessions on humanities research topics, including:
  • Primary resources and other modes of library research
  • Responsible conduct of research
  • Preparation of slides and a research talk
  • Preparation of research poster
  • Digital humanities
  • Group research activities
The Summer Research Experience occurs at the same time as other undergraduate residential summer program. Shared sessions and social activities with other undergraduate residential program students are opportunities for networking.

Participating students also have the opportunity to present their research to an audience of faculty and other young scholars from across the country at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium (LANS). They can take advantage of the networking and professional development opportunities provided by LANS.

The final event for the Summer Research Experience is the presentation of individual talks or posters by the students describing their findings.

Full participation for the duration of the 10 weeks is expected.

JHU Summer Research Calendar of Events

The Summer Humanities Collaboration is a unique approach to bringing students together from different branches of humanities scholarship to work together constructively while pursuing individual research projects. To help achieve this goal, students and instructors will engage in live research while their monitors are projected for others to see and participate in their research. The course is designed to be taught by a total of four people, including three graduate student instructors and the program director.

Daily schedule

The first 8 weeks of the 10-week summer course follow the same schedule:

Day 9 a.m. — 12 p.m. 1 — 5 p.m. 5 — 7 p.m.
Monday Focus session Collaboratory Open
Tuesday Focus session Collaboratory Open
Wednesday Focus session Collaboratory Open
Thursday On your own Small-group work Group workshop
Friday Focus session Collaboratory Open
Saturday Open — occasional group event
Sunday Open — occasional group event

During weeks 9 and 10, students will participate in the Leadership Alliance Network Symposium (LANS) and the Hopkins Summer Research Symposium.

Details of each session

Focus Session: Every weekday morning except Thursday, one of the graduate student instructors or the program director will lead a lecture, as listed in the schedule. These lectures often require additional reading or other work in advance, and are focused on learning the universal aspects of humanities research that can be applied to any individual project.

Collaboratory: Every weekday afternoon except Thursday, two instructors will join the entire class for extended collaboration time, where students will work alone or in small groups to perform their research and other tasks.

Open: Every weekday evening except Thursdays, the time scheduled is designated for humanities scholars to use as they wish.

On your own: Every Thursday morning, humanities scholars work on their research or other related tasks alone.

Small-Group Work: On Thursdays, all four instructors will be present to break down the class into four small groups.

Group Workshop: On Thursday nights, humanities scholars will gather with other undergraduate summer research programs on campus, such as the Biology REU program, for larger lectures on topics of interest to all undergraduate researchers.

Group Activity: On some Saturday nights, a broad group of undergraduate researchers will come together for a film screening or other extracurricular activity. These films will provide a foundation for the humanities researchers as they explore the theme of perceptions of the human with the humanities and the construction of ideologies.