Faculty-student research collaboration 

• Purpose and Overview
• Eligibility
• Writing Guide
• Deadlines for Application

 

Faculty members are encouraged to mentor students in proposal-writing and to carefully review student-written proposals prior to submission. Projects will be evaluated primarily based on the quality of the student research experience proposed. Be sure to clearly specify the role of the student(s) and faculty mentor(s) in the project, and the nature of the work to be done. Click here to see criteria used by project reviewers.

A. Purpose and Overview:

Faculty/Student Research Collaboration Grants are designed to facilitate the initiation and development of collaborative research or creative activity projects between students and faculty or academic staff, or in-depth faculty/staff-mentored student research or creative activity projects. Projects under this program are intended to provide students in-depth “hands-on” experience in the research and/or creative process. These awards are limited to the fiscal year in which they are awarded; funds must typically be spent by mid-June. As a condition of the grant, students are expected to present their results at the Annual UWEC Celebraton of Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, or the UW System Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. Students are also encouraged to present findings at professional conferences or meetings in their disciplines or at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR); travel funds for this purpose are available through the Student Travel for Presentation of Research Results program. In addition, it is not uncommon for a student to contribute to or co-author a manuscript for publication that results from their work.

Awards for the academic year will not exceed $2,800 per student project, and funds may be requested for student stipends, supplies, and research-related travel. (Travel for faculty/staff or students to present results at conferences is available through other programs from the Travel Support for Scholarly Presentations program and Student Travel for Research Results Presentations.) It is expected that approximately three-quarters of the award or more will be used for student stipends. Deviation from this formula is allowed, but must be clearly justified in the budget explanation. Because of the high demand for these funds, faculty or staff applying for more than one project should indicate a best-case scenario for project funding (rank the proposals, or suggest reduced budgets) if funds are not available for all requests. Total stipend for any individual student may be limited to $2,800 in one funding cycle, depending on availability of funds.

Through the Diversity Mentoring Program, special consideration will be given to funding projects that include low-income students or ethnic minority students. The purpose of this program is to help decrease the achievement gap between minority and majority students by enhancing engagement in campus life, particularly in programs related to the University’s marks of excellence, such as faculty/student undergraduate research collaboration.

Faculty and academic staff interested in mentoring students who qualify in a faculty/student research collaboration should check the Diversity Mentoring Program box on CEX Form II, Budget Form. If a Diversity Mentoring Program student is added to your project, additional student stipends and supply dollars will be added to the project. Faculty and academic staff should check with ORSP at 715-836-3405 to determine whether a student qualifies for this program. See Diversity Mentoring Program for more details.

Likewise, first-year and sophomore students designated Blugold Fellows may be available to participate in a Faculty/Student Collaboration. If you would consider adding one of these students to your proposed project, check the Blugold Fellow box on the Budget Form (CEX Form II). Click here for more information about the Blugold Fellowship program.

B. Eligibility:

Faculty and academic staff with .5 FTE or greater appointments, and UW-Eau Claire students seeking to engage in a research and creative activity collaboration may apply. The proposal may be submitted by any member of the collaborating team. The names of all research collaborators should be included in the proposal, and the proposal should be signed by the faculty or academic staff mentor.

Faculty, academic staff, and undergraduate students engaged in research or other scholarly activities in all disciplines are encouraged to apply. A graduate student who assists in mentoring the undergraduate students may also be involved in the project.

C. Writing Guide:

Please see General Guidelines for All Proposals.

Students: The Center for Writing Excellence, located on the second floor of McIntyre Library, can help at any stage of your writing process, from brainstorming your project and outlining your structure to organizing your argument and polishing your claims.

New Online Application Process

The Faculty-Student Research Collaboration application will now be processed in the BPLogix eForm system using electronic stamps associated with your university ID as your signature. For more information about BPLogix and instructions, see our Eforms page. Click here to log in to BPLogix using your UW-Eau Claire ID and password.

Initiating the Eform

The faculty mentor must initiate the ORSP-Faculty-Student Research Collaboration/Summer Research Experiences for Undergrads form. To start the form, go to the 'Start New Form' tab in BPLogix. Then select ORSP to pull up the list of forms (Select ORSP-Faculty-Student Research Collaboration/Summer Research Experiences for Undergrads. Once in the form, under 'Program', select Faculty/Student Research Collaboration Grants. Fill out the form. The narrative can be uploaded as an attachment to the form. Select the names of the individuals in the routing order area at the bottom using the userpicker button. This must be done prior to submitting the application to ensure that those in the routing process have access to the form to approve it.

Submit the application when complete. When you click 'Submit' or 'Send', the form will be routed to the next person in the workflow who must approve the form before it is sent to ORSP (e.g., Faculty/Staff Initiator sends to Chair, Chair sends to Dean, Dean to ORSP). The initiator should receive an email that confirms the form has been submitted along with a PDF of the form. When first submitting the form, the initiator will receive an email that confirms the form has been submitted along with a PDF of the form. If you do not receive the email or have any questions about this, please contact ORSP or 715-836-3405. NOTE: Any person in the workflow can convert the form to a PDF format by selecting "Print" at the bottom of the form, and printing to Cute PDF.

If you need to pause before finishing the form, click "Save to Edit Later." The form will remain accessible in the 'My Tasks' section (homepage) of BPLogix. Once you submit the form, it may be tracked, but NOT changed, in the 'View Forms in Process' section while it is being reviewed by others. NOTE: If you keep opening forms from under the 'Start New Form' section, you will have several duplicate forms. Try to avoid this. You may delete duplicate forms by opening the form under 'My Tasks' and clicking the button at the bottom "Delete Form and Workflow."

The proposal consists of:

• ORSP-Faculty-Student Research Collaboration/Summer Research Experiences for Undergrads form
  
• • Applicants must clearly explain and justify all requested expenses in the budget explanation section of the form.
    
• A Narrative (no longer than 4 double-spaced pages in a word-processed document with page numbers) addressing:
  
• • Project objectives, significance, and plan (~3 pages)
  • Nature and extent of student and faculty/staff mentor activities and involvement
  • Plan for dissemination of the results
  • History of prior funding from ORSP for this project
  • References cited

Student Job Classifications are determined by the Office of Financial Aid (Frequently Requested Information). Undergraduate students are typically eligible for ‘entry level’ and ‘advanced skill level’ wage rates, and graduate students are eligible for ‘paraprofessional level’ wage rates. Student wage rates that do not conform to this must be justified.

Faculty members are encouraged to review student-written proposals prior to submission. For students, The Center for Writing Excellence, located on the second floor of McIntyre Library, can help at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming and outlining to organizing arguments and polishing claims. Projects will be evaluated primarily based on the quality of the student research experience proposed. Be sure to clearly specify the role of the student(s) in the project, and the nature of the work to be done. Click here to see criteria used by project reviewers. 

D. Deadlines for Application:

The proposal will be due to the dean (or equivalent) by September 15 or on the next working day if this date falls on a weekend or holiday. Avoid the fall crunch by submitting early; the early-bird deadline is July 15 to the dean (or equivalent). Only one copy is required. Proposals not funded in the early-bird round will be automatically considered in the Fall review. An additional call for proposals may be made in the Spring semester if funds are available. Those seeking summer research support should apply under the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Applicants should obtain signatures of endorsement from their department chair prior to submitting the proposal to the dean (or equivalent).