Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Program (UGRASP)

Grant Application Instructions

Purpose

Financial awards provided by UGRASP are intended to facilitate undergraduate research and scholarship activities at SUU, and support their dissemination. Awards may be used for the purchase of consumable project materials and supplies (e.g. photocopies, chemicals, standardized tests), computer software, equipment, incentives for human research participation, and travel expenses incurred for conference presentations or similar.  UGRASP awards may not be used as remuneration for student help on faculty/staff research projects.

Definitions

A definition for undergraduate research and scholarship is inherently difficult because the nature of such activities is discipline specific.  All such activities must satisfy the following criteria

1. The project must make an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline
2. Students must demonstrate at least partial ownership of the project.
   UGRASP will not provide funding for students to simply work on a project assigned by a faculty member.
3. The student must engage with the academic history of the discipline in which they are working.
4. The project must be presentable in the format accepted by professionals within the discipline in which the student is working.

To satisfy the last criteria, students may disseminate the results of their project via any of the following methods:

• Department symposium
• SUU's annual student-faculty scholarship week
• Local, regional, national, or international conference/meeting/expo
• Campus publication
• Off-campus publication (not peer-reviewed)
• Off-campus publication (peer-reviewed)

Research and Scholarship Awards

Applications requesting less than $100 may be made at any time during the academic year, but no less than three weeks prior to when the funds are needed. These applications may be approved as long as they are endorsed by the student's mentor or course instructor for the project. All awards are contingent on remaining UGRASP funds. Applicants are encouraged to submit requests early in the academic year for which the funds are needed. UGRASP will only consider applications for a project which will be conducted or disseminated during the current academic year. Although subsequent requests for additional funds will be considered as outlined below, each project is limited to a maximum of $500 in total funding per academic year.

Application for funds totaling $100-$500 will be reviewed at one of four rounds with the following submission deadlines:

• Round 1: September 19th
• Round 2: November 14th
• Round 3: January 30th

NOTE: There will not be a fourth round of funding during Spring of 2012.

Awards in this category are competitive and are contingent on remaining UGRASP funds. Grants are reviewed by SUU faculty members and should be written for an intelligent audience. However, avoid jargon and discipline-specific language as all reviewers will NOT be experts in your field. UGRASP will only consider applications for a project which will be conducted during the current academic year.

Application Process

Applications should be submitted electronically as a word document to UGRASP@suu.edu. E-mailed files must include the last name of the student applicant in the name and subject line of the file (e.g. UGRASP app Smith_J). Applications should be submitted single spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font, maintaining a 1 inch margin along both sides, as well as the top and bottom of the page.

Applications should include:

1. A completed cover page downloaded from this link.
2. An abstract or summary (not to exceed 250 words)
3. A project description (not to exceed 2 pages, excluding references, figures, and tables)
   
   The project description should include:
   a. an introduction that places the project in the broader context of the discipline and clearly explains the rationale or justification for the project
   b. a clear statement of the goals, objectives, or hypothesis being tested
   c. a concise description of the methodology to be used
   d. timetable for activities associated with the project
   
   
4. An itemized budget, including a brief justification. If your budget exceeds $500 by more than 10% (i.e. if your budget is greater than $550) you must clearly indicate those expenses for which you are requesting UGRASP funding. You must also indicate how the remaining expenses will be covered if completion of the project is contingent upon other resources. Proposals failing to meet these budget criteria will be returned without review.
5. A letter of support from the faculty mentor. This letter may be included as part of the grant application file or may be submitted electronically by the faculty mentor. E-mailed files must include the last name of the student applicant in the name and subject line of the file (e.g. UGRASP FacSupport Smith_J).

Applicants should print a completed application cover sheet, (with signatures) and submit a hard copy of the cover sheet only to the UGRASP office (ST174-G) by 5PM on the Friday following the electronic submission deadline..

NOTE: The deadline for electronic submission is as outlined above, cover sheets will be accepted until the Friday following the electronic submission deadline..

Projects using human or animal subjects must obtain appropriate IRB or IAUCUC approval prior to project initiation.

Correspondence

All questions and grant application materials should be directed to:

Paul Spruell
Director of UGRASP
ST172-G

E-mail: UGRASP@suu.edu
Telephone: 865-8855