Guidelines

Undergraduate Research Grants fund a wide variety of endeavors as diverse as the range of disciplines and interests within the university. All successful projects though meet a few basic criteria. Read on for project guidelines, as well as advice to prepare a project and assemble the parts of the application.

For information regarding Conference Travel Grants, click here.

All projects must meet the following criteria:

• The project must be autonomous. While the project may relate to a faculty member’s research, or develop from work within a faculty lab, the student must design and execute the project independently, with only advisory assistance from faculty. In no cases may the funds cover faculty research expenses.

• Funding may not be used to support enrollment in language study, established institutional research programs, or study-abroad programs. Moreover, grants cannot be used to fund internships or participation in volunteer activities.

• Research using human subjects, including interviews, must receive certification from the University's Institutional Review Board that no human subject will be put "at risk." It is the student’s responsibility to obtain this approval. Students are required to have applied electronically for IRB approval (eIRB) before submitting a URG application. For further information, students should consult the web page of the Institutional Review Board (http://www.research.northwestern.edu/research/OPRS/irb/) or contact Braden Van Buskirk, IRB Coordinator (B-VanBuskirk@northwestern.edu). For an overview of the IRB application process, also see the PowerPoint slides, "What Happens to your IRB Application?"

• Grant money can not be used to support research in a country subject to a U.S. Department of State Travel Warning or other areas where personal safety may be an issue. If safety issues exist in a research locale, students need to address in the application proposal steps that will be taken to ensure personal safety.

• Group projects are allowed, but each student seeking funding must submit a separate and distinct proposal written in his or her own language. Each student must also have a separate faculty letter of recommendation.

• Students may only receive one academic year and one summer grant while enrolled at Northwestern

• At the completion of the project, the grantee must submit a detailed two-page summary approval by the faculty advisor describing the results/outcome of the project. If asked, students must be able to produce a copy of all relevant receipts. Unused funds must be returned to the Undergraduate Research Grants Program.

The following guidelines additionally apply only to the Academic Year Grant:

• Students are required to enroll in an Independent Study or Honors Seminar (398 or 399) in order to receive academic credit for the URG project.

• Projects should begin and end within a single academic quarter, except for senior honors projects and cases involving special circumstances. In all cases, the project must be completed prior to graduation.

• Grant money must only cover the actual costs of the project as itemized in the budget, such as for materials, subject compensation, and travel expenses. Funds may not be used toward tuition, program fees, expenses normally incurred during regular coursework, or major non-expendable equipment purchases.

The following guidelines apply only to the Summer Grant:

• The URG Program particularly encourages summer research projects which prepare the student for a senior honors thesis or other such capstone project offered by the student’s school.

• All Summer Grants are made in the amount of $3,000, which is intended to cover both living and research expenses. The student need not submit an itemized budget with the application nor receipts at the end of the project. If the research project involves international travel, the award may exceed the limit as long as the student provides a detailed budget for research travel only.

• Students are expected not to seek summer employment during a period of at least eight weeks of full-time (40 hours per week) research.

Preparing an Application

The student’s first step should be to discuss the research idea with a faculty member available to supervise the project. The faculty advisor can help the student assess and refine the proposal and give advice on the possibility of conducting the research as an independent study or senior honors project.

As an additional resource, the student is encouraged to seek feedback from the Grant Coordinator by email (urg@northwestern.edu) or in an arranged meeting, once he or she has written a draft proposal. While the faculty supervisor can best apply his or her expertise to the intellectual and methodological foundations of the project, the Grant Coordinator offers useful writing assistance in shaping the proposal for readers from diverse academic fields.

The Project Proposal

The Project Proposal should describe the project in two single-spaced pages. This document should accomplish the following main functions:

• Explain the research question and how it will be addressed, or in the case of a creative project, provide a detailed vision of the project and the process of its creation

• Articulate the importance and scholarly originality of the project, citing relevant background literature in the field

• Detail the preparation (past coursework/previous research experience) that will enable the student to succeed in the project

• Mention any Independent Study or Honors credit the student will receive for the work

• If necessary, reference any additional, non-narrative material required for the committee to evaluate the proposal, such as artwork, copies of previous work, etc., which the student will provide in a clearly marked Appendix at the end of the proposal, or in the case of audio/visual materials, in hard copy.

Faculty Letter of Support

All applications require a letter of support submitted online by the student's faculty advisor. The advisor should base his/her endorsement on a draft of the proposal provided by the student. When the student completes his/her portion of the online application, the system will generate an email to the student's advisor containing instructions for online submission of the letter.