Undergraduate Small Grants Program
Here are the submission guidelines and the general call for proposals for the Undergraduate Small Grants Program.
Background and Purpose
Undergraduate Small grants are designed to support scholarly or creative projects carried out by undergraduate students. Projects must provide students with a meaningful scholarly experience, with the student assuming the principal role and the faculty or teaching academic staff member serving as a mentor. The student must write the proposal, using the advice and technical expertise of the mentor as a guide.
Award Information
Grants of up to $550 will be awarded for project-related expenses, but may not be used for student salary, membership fees or conference travel. There is no stipend associated with these awards.
Presently there are two grant cycles each year. Watch for specific deadlines on the University’s Faculty/Instructional Academic Staff Electronic Mailing list. The first cycle deadline is October 7, 2022, and the award must be used by the end of Spring term. The second cycle deadline is April 8, 2023, and the award must be used by the end of Summer term (August).
Eligibility Information and Student Responsibilities
Student applicants must be full-time undergraduate students in good academic standing. Preference will be given to projects that have not previously received an Undergraduate Small Grant. Only one Small Grants application from any advisor or project will receive an award during any cycle.
The student is expected to write the first draft of the application based on either their own ideas or using the suggestions and readings provided by their mentor. The first draft will be provided to the mentor for review and comment by an agreed upon time, long enough before the submission deadline that the mentor may return it for rewrites and have time to review the final version before agreeing to submit it.
The student will complete the application and compose the text. Faculty mentors are allowed to offer student applicants with technical advice and assistance with editing, but the process of submitting a proposal belongs primarily with the student.
Submission Guidelines
Each student may submit only one Small Grants application per cycle. The student must write the application narrative with his or her mentor acting as an editor/advisor. The application must be written in non-technical language on the required form answering each of the following questions in the space provided:
- Project Description: This should be a short description of the project.
- Anticipated Outcomes: Please describe any anticipated outcomes or research developments from this project.
- Timeline: Provide a timeline of activities.
- Benefits to Student: Please describe any learning by the student or other benefits of this project to the student.
- Contribution to mentor’s research: Explain how the student’s research is informed by the research of the mentor.
- Student Role: Explain the student’s role in the collaborative project.
- Advisor Role: Explain the advisor’s role in the collaborative project.
- Budget: Up to $550 will be awarded for project-related expenses, excluding student salary, membership fees and conference travel. Please list your project’s expenses and briefly justify them.
Submissions must be made by the cycle deadline using the Small Grants Application Form.
Application Evaluation Criteria
Reviewers from multiple disciplinary backgrounds will be reading your application and scoring it on how well it answers the following questions:
- Scholarly Merit: Does the project hold potential for significant student intellectual/creative growth and is the significance/importance/contribution of the project to the discipline clearly described?
- Benefits to Student: Will the student gain a meaningful experience in the research or creative project? Does the student role constitute a significant contribution to the project (more than clerical or laboratory assistant work)? Are the anticipated educational/other benefits to the student clearly described?
- Application Clarity: Are the principal ideas clear and understandable to readers outside the discipline of the work? Has technical jargon been avoided? Are the ideas well organized and logical? Is the application free of spelling and grammatical errors?
Reporting Requirements
All purchases must be authorized through the awarding office. This will verify that the funds are expended as proposed. In addition, you must submit a brief final report and will be expected to present your work at the annual Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Activity event.
Responsibilities of the Mentor
Small Grants application preparation
The student is expected to write the first draft of the application based on either their own ideas or using the suggestions and readings provided by their mentor. The first draft will be provided to the mentor for review and comment by an agreed upon time, long enough before the submission deadline that the mentor may return it for rewrites and have time to review the final version before agreeing to submit it.
The mentor is expected to provide editorial suggestions, overall direction and verify that appropriate background research is being done. Mentors are discouraged from submitting an application that they have not had adequate time to review or if they feel does not meet the review criteria.
During the project
The mentor is expected to meet with their student regularly to discuss progress and plan appropriate adjustments to activities.
Additional Approvals
If a research project is working with human subjects or vertebrate animals, or biohazardous materials there are also additional approval steps.