Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates 

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

A. Purpose and Overview:

This research program is intended to facilitate undergraduate research and scholarly activity during the summer. Summer grants include student stipends of up to $2,300 per student with a typical limit of $5,800 in student stipends going to projects of any one faculty mentor. Faculty serving as research mentors are eligible for a $2,300 stipend. Faculty involved in more than one project will only be eligible to receive a single stipend. Total stipend for any individual student working on multiple projects may be limited to $3,000 in the funding cycle, depending on availability of funds. In addition to the stipends, each collaborative project is eligible to receive up to $500 for supplies, services, and travel directly related to the project (not for travel to a conference). Faculty collaborating with undergraduate researchers will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the grant award. Funds for this program will not be available until July 1. Faculty applicants should check with their Department Chairs in the event that an overload needs to be requested if they are also teaching or being paid through the University for other work during the summer. Overload payments are not allowed if federal funds are involved in summer salary.

Projects under this program should lead to presentation of results at meetings of scholarly organizations and, where possible, provide baseline data for inclusion in proposals to extramural funding agencies. As a condition of the grant, students will be expected to present their results at the annual UW-Eau Claire Student Research Day, 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; 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.

Through the Diversity Mentoring Program, special consideration will be given to funding projects that include low-income students and 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 select "yes" in the drop down box when asked "If available, would you consider adding a Diversity Mentoring Program student to this project?"  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 36-3405 to determine whether a student qualifies for this program. Click here for more information on the Diversity Mentoring Program.

Likewise, freshman and sophomore students designated Blugold Fellow may be available to participate in a Faculty/Student Collaboration. If you would consider adding one of these students to your proposed project, select "yes" in the drop down box when asked "If available, would you consider adding a Blugold Fellow to this project?"  Click here for more information on theBlugold Fellowship program.

B. Eligibility:

Faculty and academic staff with .5 FTE or greater appointments for the next academic year, and UW-Eau Claire continuing undergraduate students planning to enroll for the Fall semester 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 mentor.

Faculty, academic staff, and undergraduate students engaged in research or other scholarly activities in all disciplines are eligible to apply.

 

C. Writing Guide:

Please see General Proposal Guidelines.

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 Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates 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 Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates). 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.
    
    
• Narrative (no longer than 5 double-spaced pages in a word-processed document with page numbers) should address:
• • Project objectives, significance, and plan (~3-4 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 and potential for extramural support
  • References cited
    
    
• A brief Faculty Vita (no longer than 4 pages)

 

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 mentor students in proposal-writing and to carefully 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, as well as the role of the faculty/staff mentor. Click here to see criteria used by project reviewers.

 

D. Deadline for Application:

The proposal must be submitted to the dean (or equivalent) by February 15 or the next working day if this date falls on a weekend or holiday.