Small Grants
FOR Undergraduate Research
OEL’s “Small Grants” can fund original research or creative projects that students complete independently or with other undergraduate students. They can also be used to help fund travel to conferences where a student is presenting a paper or exhibiting their own original work; performing as part of an artistic event; or participating on a panel.
Grants are not provided for traveling to conferences or events where the student is only attending, not exhibiting or participating; research done as part of an ongoing, funded lab project; or projects for which a student is unable to secure a faculty advisor.
While grants are not provided to defray the cost of traveling on “study abroad” or global service-learning trips, if a student is working on an eligible project while participating in one of these programs, the student may request a grant to defray the project’s expenses.
Collaborative projects between students are considered, although only one grant can be awarded per project. Students may apply for a grant even if they have received other Arts and Sciences awards (such as a USS Foundation or Toretti award) in the same academic year. However, students who have not already received an Arts and Sciences fellowship that year will be given preference.
Application Form (PDF)
For Undergraduate Teaching Experiences
Arts and Sciences offers supplemental small grants to undergraduates for teaching and creative projects that support the teaching of current and scheduled courses.
The activities should enrich the course and improve the teaching-learning enterprise. Grants of up to $500 are available for but not limited to the following types of teaching activities:
- Facilitating discussion groups or other forms of collaborative learning activities as part of regularly scheduled class discussions
- Facilitating student study sessions or tutorials in support of a particular class at times other than regular class sessions
- Developing course materials
- Assisting the instructor in secondary activities of teaching
- Developing and/or maintaining the Courseweb site for the course
OEL small grants for Undergraduate Teaching Experiences will not support undergraduates in:
- The grading of papers, quizzes, or exams for the supported course
- Assigning final grades
- Conducting regular class meetings, lectures, or seminars
- Work unrelated to the class
Application Form (PDF)
Applications
There is no deadline for applications; they are reviewed when received.
OEL tries to review all applications and respond within two weeks, depending on the number of requests received. If many high-quality applications are received at the same time, OEL may elect to provide grants to some students in amounts smaller than requested.
To apply, students must be in good academic standing and have a GPA of 2.0 or higher. One grant may be awarded per student per academic year.
Before you apply for an OEL Small Grant, you must:
- Have a faculty sponsor for your research or teaching.
- Complete the application form, which requests a description of your project or travel plans and a projected budget.
- Return the completed application form to Margaret Heely, Office of Experiential Learning, B-4 Thaw Hall.
COMPLETING THE PROCESS
If you receive a Small Grant, once your project is complete you will have to submit a report to OEL by the end of the term. This report must include a summary of your project or information on project status, along with a detailed expense report showing how you used the grant money.
Information about your project will be published on the OEL Web site so that other students can see what their peers are working on, and learn from their projects.
If a student receives a grant and fails to report the results of the project back to OEL, they will not be eligible for additional grants.
MORE INFORMATION
Contact Margaret Heely at 412-624-6828.