Undergraduate Scholarly Projects During the Academic Year

The Student-Faculty Research Collaboration program, supported by Blugold Commitment Differential Tuition, supports student research, scholarship, and creative activities during the academic year. Research collaboration is understood to include in-depth faculty-mentored undergraduate scholarly projects in any discipline. The ideal project would involve a student in as many aspects of the scholarly process as possible. This will look different in each discipline, but might include:

• Identification of a question, problem, or creative scholarly goal
• Development of a process or approach to answer, solve or achieve it
• Carrying out the project
• Disseminating the results of the project

However, the project should be tailored appropriately by the mentor to match the developmental level of the student. The level of independent work performed by a first-year student will typically be quite different from that of a senior student in her second year working on a project.

Projects under this program should lead to the 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 Celebration 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. If the scholarly work will be ongoing, faculty are encouraged to use the results to provide baseline data for inclusion in proposals to extramural funding agencies.

Related programs that support undergraduate research:

• Diversity Mentoring Program
• Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program

Award:

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 September 1. The award consists of two primary categories:

Student Stipend: Academic year grants are limited to the following student stipend amounts per proposal - up to $2,000 per student, with a maximum of $6,000 per project. Students working on multiple projects may be limited to a maximum stipend of $3,000 for all projects in one funding cycle, depending on the availability of funds. Faculty mentors can submit multiple projects requesting full student stipend amount, awards will be determined based on the availability of funds. 

Supplies, Services, and Travel: In addition to the stipends, each collaborative project is eligible to receive up to $600 for academic year projects for supplies, services, and travel directly related to the project (not for travel to present at a conference, but see Student Travel for the Presentation of Research Results). Monies that fund internal grants cannot be used for participant incentives.

Eligibility:

Faculty, academic staff, and undergraduate students engaged in research or other scholarly activities in all disciplines are encouraged to apply. Students involved must be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for grants. A graduate student may also be involved in the project as a mentor to undergraduate students. Faculty and academic staff with .5 FTE or greater appointments are eligible. The proposal may be submitted by any member of the collaborating team.

Deadline for Application: July 15 (first call); September 15 (second call)

*If the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date will be extended to the following Monday.

These deadlines are when applications are due to chairs (or supervisors). Chairs/Supervisors are asked to ensure that proposals reach ORSP within one week of the posted deadline. The second call is dependent on available funding.

Application Process/Writing Guide:

The Student-Faculty Research Collaboration application (processed in BP Logix) may be initiated by a mentor or a student. 

Faculty mentors are encouraged to mentor students in proposal writing as appropriate to the situation. In particular, more senior students and students continuing on a project should be included in the proposal preparation process. Part of the mentoring process is to carefully review student-written proposals prior to submission. For students, the Center for Writing Excellence can help at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming and outlining to organizing arguments and polishing claims.

Go to the eform application for additional application information. 

Apply Here

Proposal Evaluation:

Primary evaluation will be based on the quality of the student research experience proposed. Proposal Review Sheet SREU SFRC FY24. Where projects are ranked equally, preference may be given to:

• Tenure-track faculty, especially faculty in their first three years
• Projects that bring in new students
• Ongoing projects in which student and project have progressed appropriately
• Interdisciplinary projects
• Projects from underrepresented disciplines
• Projects that involve students in proposal-writing
• Projects from faculty with a good track record in research mentoring
• The first project from a faculty member (over a second or third proposal from a faculty member in any proposal round)
• Projects that develop promising groundwork for an extramural funding proposal

Recently Awarded Projects:

• Student-Faculty Research Award 2021-2022
• Student Faculty Research Award 2020-2021