F.U.S.E

Faculty and Undergraduate Scholarship and Engagement

Program Details

Format

Online or in-person

Application Deadline

October 2, 2026

Time Commitment

~5 hours per week

Who Can Apply?

Undergrads

Applications Open Sept 14

About the Program

The Faculty and Undergraduate Scholarship and Engagement (FUSE) program offers undergraduate students an exciting opportunity to participate in research projects alongside College of Social Work faculty mentors.

Through a research assistantship, students gain hands-on experience, strengthen research and professional skills, and build meaningful mentoring relationships. FUSE helps students connect classroom learning to practical application while preparing for graduate education and careers where research plays an important role.

Who is this Program for?

  • Students enrolled in the BASW or BA/BSCJ programs.
  • Open to both online and on-campus students.
  • Preference will be given to juniors.
  • Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA.
FUSE

Why Join the Program?

  • Gain hands-on experience working alongside faculty mentors on active research projects.
  • Develop valuable skills in critical thinking, data analysis, and professional writing.
  • Build strong mentoring relationships and professional networks.
  • Strengthen graduate school and career applications through research experience.
  • Connect classroom learning to real-world issues and challenges.

F.U.S.E. Student Responsibilities

  • Complete a Forager One profile.
  • Attend an orientation session.
  • Complete the CITI Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Course.
  • Meet weekly with your faculty mentor (minimum 30 minutes).
  • Dedicate approximately 5 hours per week to your research project.
  • Develop a research plan with your mentor.
  • Maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA.
  • Present at the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars.*

*Alternative presentation opportunities may be available for students with course conflicts.

Who You'll Work With

Explore faculty mentors and their projects. Each mentor brings unique expertise and research opportunities—from policy analysis to community engagement. You’ll rank your top three mentor preferences when applying.

Tarkington Newman headshot

Tarkington Newman

Profile
Rebecca Bosetti Headshot

Rebecca Bosetti

Profile
Lyndon Bond headshot

Lynden Bond

Profile
Aubrey Jones headshot

Aubrey Jones

Profile
Portrait of Stephanie Quiring

Stephanie Quiring

Profile
Carly Kimiecik headshot

Carlyn Kimiecik

Profile

Learn More Before You Apply

Join us for a virtual information session to learn more about FUSE, research opportunities, student expectations, and the application process.

September 23, 2026 | 3:00–4:00 p.m. ET

Register For Info Session

Questions about the program?

Contact Dr. Heather McCauley

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Applications for Spring 2027 research assistantships open September 14 at 8:00 a.m. ET. Don’t miss your opportunity to collaborate with faculty mentors, gain research experience, and strengthen your academic and professional future.

Currently Inactive

Note: Applications for Spring 2027 close on October 2 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Tarkington Newman

tarkington.newman@uky.edu

Forager One Profile

Bio

Dr. Tarkington J Newman is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work, where they serve as Director of the Sport Social Work Research Lab (SSW-RL) and Co-Director of the International Institute for Sport & Behavioral Health. Through the SSW-RL, Dr. Newman is committed to serving youth populations (ages 10-24) who are socially vulnerable and/or at-risk for behavioral and mental health problems. Their research seeks to actively engage historically-oppressed populations including youth of color, youth from economically disadvantaged urban communities, and LGBTQ+ youth. Specifically, Dr. Newman’s research focuses on promoting critical positive youth development (CPYD) through sport and other forms of physical activity. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, their research investigates mechanisms that promote the development and transfer of normative life skills (e.g., emotional regulation, communication, teamwork, leadership) and social justice life skills (e.g., antiracism, LGBTQ+ allyship, healthy masculinity, mental health literacy).

Current Projects

  • Community-based sport and recreational programming
  • High school athlete/coach social justice promotion
  • College athlete mental health
  • International youth sport
  • Sport social work as a subspecialty of social work practice.

Rebecca Bosetti

rebecca.bosetti@uky.edu

Forager One Profile

Bio

Rebecca L. Bosetti, PhD, MSW is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. Bosetti completed her PhD in Social Work at The Ohio State University in 2020 after defending her dissertation entitled Maltreatment, Emotional Responses to Abuse, and Trauma Among Adolescents Engaging in Sexual or Non-Sexual Delinquency. Dr. Bosetti’s dissertation received funding through the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers Pre-doctoral Research Grant. Dr. Bosetti’s research explores developmental antecedents to juvenile delinquency behaviors, the role of childhood maltreatment victimization and trauma in the etiology of adolescent offending, and emotional processing risk factors that differentiate youth who commit general delinquent offenses from youth who engage in sexually abusive behaviors. Moreover, she is actively engaged in providing sex-positive education to students across social science disciplines to highlight the role of socially just and inclusive sex education as a tool of primary sexual violence prevention. Her study on reimagining community-based sex educators has been funder by The Spencer Foundation, a leading and nationally competitive funder of transformative educational research. Dr. Bosetti serves on the editorial board of Sexual Abuse, : A Journal of Research and Treatment, and will continue researching the safety and victimization experiences of juvenile justice involved youth in the hopes of informing the implementation of developmentally responsive juvenile justice practices.

Current Projects

  • Research with a juvenile justice agency on restorative intervention outcomes
  • Research with a juvenile justice agency on provision of programming for youth with problem sexual behaviors

Lynden Bond

lynden.bond@uky.edu

Forager One Profile

Bio

I am an assistant professor in the College of Social Work. My primary areas of research include housing and homelessness, substance use, and mental health. Specifically, I am interested in how we can improve our homelessness response systems to address and end homelessness in our communities. I primarily use community-engaged, qualitative, and mixed-methods in my research.

Current Projects

  • Villages model: Community needs assessment. This project is a community-engaged project, where we are partnering with a local organization, to conduct a community needs assessment of older adults in Lexington. We will use findings to develop recommendations and share findings with City Council, community partners, and in academic settings.

  • Homeless outreach review. This project will include conducting a systematic review of current research related to homeless outreach practices. The goal of this research will be to develop and submit a journal manuscript.

Aubrey Jones

aubrey.jones12@uky.edu

Forager One Profile

Bio

Aubrey Jones earned her PhD in Social Work from the University of Tennessee in 2020, her Master of Social Work from Florida State University, and her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of Montana. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky, where she focuses on rural communities, family wellbeing, and maternal and perinatal mental health.

Current Projects

  • Step by step community partner evaluation
  • Doula’s role in mental health care
  • Barriers and facilitators of postpartum mental health care
  • Assisted outpatient treatment, a program for people with severe mental illness.
    – “I evaluate the program and am looking to expand the research we are doing on this project by investigating social workers roles.”

Stephanie Quiring

stephanie.quiring@uky.edu

Forager One Profile

Bio

Dr. Quiring has spent over 15 years as advocate, educator, and attorney across various stages of the criminal legal system. More specifically, working and advocating in spaces where a person experiencing mental health crisis intersects with the criminal legal system. Her dissertation, Living with serious mental illness, police encounters, and relationships of power: A critical phenomenological study, was published in 2021. Dr. Quiring received her Juris Doctorate from the Howard University School of Law and her PhD from Indiana University School of Social Work. As a translational scholar, her current areas of research, writing, and teaching include: community-based mental health crisis response, abolitionist feminist praxis, critical phenomenology, interpretative phenomenological analysis, collective wellness, mental health law & policy, Crisis Intervention Teams, police, criminal legal system, 4th and 5th amendment issues, state violence, power relationships, death penalty.

Current Projects

  • Evaluating effectiveness of de-escalation training with police and community members.
  • Understanding impact of non-carceral crisis response with people in mental health crisis and the broader community.
  • Systems mapping of mental health and substance use services/resources across the criminal legal system.
  • Examining expansion and limitations of police power as ‘source’ of law enforcement authority.
  • Social Return on Investment of peer recovery organizations in support of all pathways of recovery for people.

Carlyn Kimiecik

carlykimiecik@uky.edu

Forager One Profile

Bio

Dr. Carlyn (Carly) Kimiecik is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky, where she also serves as the Assistant Director of the Sport Social Work Research Lab. Carly explores the experiences of youth and student-athletes at the intersections of health, wellbeing, and development. Using strength-based and community-engaged approaches, she aims to understand how the social work profession can effectively collaborate in these areas. Outside of academia, Carly has over ten years of experience in youth programming and college athletics.

Current Projects

  • College student-athlete wellbeing research study
  • Research project to understand the connection and alignment between school social workers and athletic directors
  • Recess for Champions youth programming with local Elementary schools