Office of Student Research and Creative Activity

Internal Funding

Funds are available for stipends, suppplies/expenses and travel to selected events.

Student/Faculty Collaborative GrantsThe Office of Student Research and Creative Activity (OSRCA) offers two types of student/faculty collaborative grants:

• Undergraduate Small Grants ($600 supplies and travel budget)
• Student/Faculty Collaborative Research Grants ($3,500 student stipend and $600 supplies and travel budget)

Small grants are available on a periodic basis, based on funding availability.

Student/Faculty Collaborative Research Grants are available for either the summer term or the academic year, with applications typically due in February. These grants are designed to support projects that provide students with a meaningful research or creative activity experience. You will assume the principal role for the project, including writing your own proposal, conducting research or working on a creative activity and reporting your results. A faculty member will mentor and you throughout the process, but you are responsible for completing your project.

Please contact OSRCA director Professor Stephen Kercher for more information.

Support through Your Mentor

Your mentor may have money available from internal sources, such as the Student Research Assistant Program or the Faculty Development Program, or external sources such as federal, state and philanthropic organization grants or collaborative activities with business partners. If you need money for your project or wish to be paid rather than get academic credit for your activities, make sure to ask your mentor if he or she has any money available.

McNair Scholars Program: Paid Summer Research Internship

• Are you a first-generation, Pell-eligible student, AND/OR do you identify as Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous American?
• Are you interested in making the most of your undergraduate education?

If you answered YES to both of these questions, you should look in to applying to the McNair Program. McNair is a prestigious, federally-funded program, the cornerstone of which is a paid summer research internship. Over 60% of the students who have completed the McNair Program are either in graduate school or have completed graduate studies, most paid for through assistantships and fellowship. Watch this video to hear about the experiences of UWO McNair scholars who completed the program. Priority Application Deadline is December 1.

CONTACT US TODAY: Stop by our office in 121 Hasley, e-mail us at mcnair@uwosh.edu, call us at (920)424-7306, or fill out our interest form.

Money for Travel to Meetings

Discuss the possibility of presenting your work at a professional meeting with your adviser. Some mentors may have grant funds to pay the costs of your attendance. With your mentor’s assistance, you should also explore the possibility of getting some support from your department or the dean of your college. OSRCA competitively awards funds to travel to: NCUR and the UW System Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. If you wish to attend, you will need to send a copy of your submission to our office (osrca@uwosh.edu). Once submissions are accepted by the host institutions, OSRCA will determine which of the accepted submissions are fundable. We also support up to eight poster presenters (two of which are from the Fond du Lac or Fox Cities campuses) to attend Research in the Rotunda. Faculty must nominate students for this event.

External Grants

Consider funding opportunities available from organizations outside of UW Oshkosh. You can use our list of external funding sources as a starting point.

External Funding

External funding requires some kind of application. You can begin by exploring these potential funding sources.

• Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid provide small grants to undergraduate and graduate student researchers in the sciences.
• National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) are a chance for undergraduates to work on a science project over the summer, usually at an institution other than the one they attend.
• CIA Student Work Programs: the undergraduate internship, co-op and graduate studies programs give students a chance to contribute to the work of the nation while earning a competitive income.
• National Wildlife Federation’s EcoCareers Graduate Student Fellowship: graduate students from any discipline can receive a $3,000 fellowship for sustainability leadership. Contact Jim Feldman (feldmanj@uwosh.edu) for assistance with the application process and more.
• Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Biology & Biotechnology Co-op/Internships: these paid co-op/internship opportunities are open to any student interested in paid, short-term work that relates directly to biology and biotechnology.
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Education and Research Funding Opportunities: undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty can receive research funding and participate in research programs.
• National Council for Science and Environment has created an environmental internship clearinghouse. It enables university students to search for internships in the environmental field and provides a forum for internship providers to tap into a solid community of quality applicants. Also ask your mentor about other opportunities specific to your discipline. It is worth exploring the websites of professional societies associated with your discipline.