Applying for a Research Grant

Have a grant already? Find out how to spend it here.

1. Eligibility and Regulations for UWW-URP Research Grants

Applicants must:

• Be of sophomore status or greater at the time of application.
• Have a UW-W cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher at the time of application.
• Have received no more than one prior Undergraduate Research Grant.
• Have the project endorsed by a faculty* supervisor.
• Be enrolled full-time in an undergraduate program during completion of project.
• When funds are limited, grants will be awarded based primarily on GPA and proposal quality. The success of the mentor's students with previous grants may also be considered.
  • Here, faculty members are tenure-track or tenured faculty or academic staff members holding at least a 50% appointment.

Guidelines For Grant Use

• Student investigator receives no salary/wages from the project. Books, software, small equipment, and other materials purchased with grant funds belong to the University. Funds must be expended following regular University guidelines and within University's fiscal year.
• Purchase of more than a single essential book is discouraged unless the student can show that the book is not available through the library or inter-library loan. Book purchases should rarely exceed more than $100 for a single grant.
• Budget should not exceed the needs of the project, normally up to a maximum of $500/grant or $1000/grantfor research toward an University Honors Council approved Honors in the Major thesis. Students whose work involves international travel may request an additional $250 beyond these maxima.
• Funds may be used for dissemination of project results.
• Use of human subjects or animals in the research must receive approval by the appropriate University committee.
• Projects which run beyond or span academic years require special justification.
• Students are eligible for a maximum of two grants during their time as an undergraduate at UW-Whitewater.
• Faculty members may supervise no more than three grant-funded projects at any one time.

Expectations

• All students whose projects are funded are expected to submit an abstract to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) or the UW-System Symposium for Undergraduate Research (we will indicate which in the fall when we have the final list of grantees and budgets).
• All students whose projects are funded are expected to present their results at the annual UW-Whitewater Undergraduate Research Day.
• Funded students will be asked to fill out a brief web survey.
• Failure to satisfy these expectations, without satisfactory explanation, will normally result in ineligibility for undergraduate research funding for the student and mentor for one year.

Review Criteria

• Project description is clearly written by the student in her/his own words, well designed and cost-effective.
• Student shows a strong interest in the project, and it fits into the student's academic and /or career plans.
• Project is realistic for the student's background, the time frame, and the amount of funding.
• Faculty supervisor supports the project and has an appropriate background for supervising the project.
• Project is likely to result in a paper, creative performance, visual art object, or academic project that can be presented to a professional/peer audience and/or published in a scholarly publication.
• Collaborative grants will be considered; collaborative work that can lead to multiple presentations is preferred. Work that involves multiple students but will lead to a single presentation will require special justification. Funding NCUR travel for junior authors on a presentation will be a low priority and no more than two presenters will be funded for any single presentation (excluding some group music and theater performances). Funding of UW-System conference travel will be more flexible.

Sample/Model Proposal: You can download an example of a successful science proposal here. An example of a successful humanities proposal is here (note that this one could have used some citations and a bibliography, interesting though it is).

2. Proposal format

A complete proposal package will include the following (note that incomplete proposals or those disregarding guidelines will recieve lowest priority and may not be reviewed):

1. The UW-Whitewater Undergraduate Research Grant cover form.
   (this is submitted in hardcopy and must be signed by the mentor and the student; the rest of the proposal is submitted electronically as an e-mail attachment(s)).
2. A proposal up to three pages in length (typed, double spaced, minimum 1 inch margins, 12 pt font).

   The proposal will include the following sections:

   A brief introduction including a statement of goals and objectives for the project.

   An outline of the method or design for carrying out the project (should be the largest section of the proposal).

   A schedule for completing the project.

   A brief budget with expenses itemized.

   A statement of anticipated significance of results (i.e. briefly describe possible outcomes of the project and why they are likely to be of interest).

   (Note that the budget should normally not exceed $500/person or $1000/person for research toward an University Honors Council approved Honors in the Major thesis; special attention should be paid to the budget of larger requests; students whose work involves international travel may request an additional $250 beyond these maxima).

3. A brief letter of endorsement from the faculty supervisor (up to one page), briefly evaluating the scholarly merit of the student research project. This need not be extensive unless special explanations are required.
4. A current AR of the student applicant.
5. A current curriculum vitae of the faculty supervisor (the short format recommended by some granting agencies is suitable).
6. A summary of outcomes of Undergraduate Research Awards sponsored by the same mentor in the preceding two years (or one year if submitted the preceding year). These data are for program assessment purposes and will help us to maintain and increase funding for the program. Mentors, please fill in all cells for which you have information in the excel file you can download here. Please change the name of the file to your (the mentor's) last name before submitting it.

3. Proposal submission

e-mail items 2-5, preferably as a single Word or pdf file, and item 6 (an Excel file), to: Denise Ehlen

Submit item 1, the cover form, as hard copy to:

Denise Ehlen

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Suite 2237 Andersen Library (near some Communication offices; enter through back of library)

The Undergraduate Research Council (faculty representatives from each college), will review applications and make recommendations to the Program Coordinator. Project funding is for the fiscal year 2008-2009. All purchases must be made and/or reimbursed by May 15, 2009.

Deadline for Spring Grant Proposals: 4:30pm, April 29, 2008

Awards are subject to availability of funds.