FIRE provides first-year UMD students with an inclusive faculty-mentored research experience that drives accelerated career readiness and opportunity.
Call for Campus Partner Proposals
ABOUT FIRE
Led by The University of Maryland's (UMD) Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), The First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) is a course-based undergraduate research program that provides first-year UMD students with an inclusive faculty-mentored research experience that drives accelerated career readiness and opportunity.
Initiated in 2014, FIRE has grown to serve more than 600 new first-year students annually through the operation of 16 distinct FIRE Streams. A FIRE Stream's ecosystem includes FIRE Students, Peer Research Mentors, a FIRE Faculty Leader - and - potentially you, a FIRE Faculty Collaborator.
Call for Proposals
Launch: April 2025
Submissions Close: July 11, 2025
Our annual FIRE Call for Proposals seeks to find campus partners who would benefit from serving as a FIRE Faculty Collaborator. Campus partners help us recruit a FIRE Faculty Leader and serve as a research collaborator and mentor to this individual.
FIRE Streams
FIRE Streams represent diverse fields, including natural science, social science & humanities, and technology & applied science research disciplines.
Each year, a few FIRE Streams come to a natural conclusion, opening the door for creating a new FIRE Stream in its place. This feature allows the FIRE program to be continually refreshed, renewed, and research-relevant to the greatest challenges of our times.
FIRE Faculty Leaders
FIRE Faculty Leaders are Asst/Assoc Clinical Professors who develop and oversee the research agenda and curriculum for their FIRE Stream. Additional information about these individuals and their qualifications can be found here.
FIRE Faculty Collaborators
FIRE Faculty Collaborators are UMD faculty members who support and collaborate with FIRE Faculty Leaders. FIRE Faculty Collaborators are not instructors of record, responsible for the design and implementation of the research agenda, nor are they asked to oversee and mentor FIRE students in any formal way.
However, they meet with FIRE Faculty Leaders monthly (sometimes much more frequently) to discuss a FIRE Stream's research agendas and progress. It is common for the most committed students in a FIRE Stream to eventually move on to work more directly with a FIRE Faculty Collaborator after these students have completed their FIRE experience.
CATALYZING THE CREATION OF A FIRE STREAM
AS A FIRE FACULTY COLLABORATOR
Questions we have for you:
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Do you have an idea for a FIRE Stream you would like to support as a FIRE Faculty Collaborator?
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Do you know an early-career faculty member or doctoral candidate who would make an excellent candidate for the FIRE Faculty Leader position?
Please consider submitting a FIRE Faculty Collaborator Stream Proposal linked at the bottom of this page.
The process by which OUR/FIRE considers new FIRE Streams opportunities is as follows:
Faculty Collaborator Stream Proposal
Submitting a FIRE Faculty Collaborator Stream Proposal does not guarantee that FIRE will be able to create a FIRE Stream as a byproduct of the proposal.
The proposal offers the opportunity to:
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communicate a compelling opportunity for a new FIRE Stream.
AND -
share the FIRE Faculty Leader Hiring Call with potential candidates.
Deadline for Proposal Submission: Friday, July 11, 2025.
Final FIRE Streams are determined by the qualifications and readiness of FIRE Faculty Leader applicants (see timeline above). OUR/FIRE drives the application, interview, hiring process, and final determination of those hired for the role, and new FIRE Streams launched annually.
FIRE Faculty Leader Hiring Call
Please distribute the call (linked below) to contacts, listservs, and job boards.