Industrial Mentors: An Often Untapped Resource in Undergraduate Research Programs

Students taking part in a 10-week summer research experience for undergraduates (REU) program in the department of mechanical engineering at Oakland University receive three levels of mentorship: from faculty, graduate students and researchers/engineers from industry. Industrial mentors, all of whom volunteer to take part in the experience, play a variety of roles as part of the program and are viewed by the authors as an often untapped resource in undergraduate research programs. This paper focuses on the experience gained from involving industrial mentors in the REU program and on the lessons learned: what worked, what didn’t work and what improvements can be made in the following years.