NSF-EPSCoR Undergraduate Research Awards

Academic Year NSF-EPSCoR UG Research Awards

 

In August 2005 the National Science Foundation through the EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) funded a $13.5M grant (including $4.5M match from the State of Nevada) to improve the research infrastructure in Nevada http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0447416 . The project (award no. 0447416) is directed by Dr. D. Lindle and Dr. G. Dana http://www.nevada.edu/epscor/projects.html . One of the focal areas in this grant is undergraduate research with Dr. M. Saiidi and J.Farley as the area leaders. Through this project approximately $1.5M will be spent to fund and expand undergraduate research opportunities in NSHE over a three-year period. The grants will provide students majoring in math, science, engineering, and education funds to carry out research under the direction of a faculty mentor during the academic year and summer. Competition for the grants are announced twice a year: in early fall for the academic year grants and in early spring for the summer program. See the guidelines for other requirements.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AWARDS PROGRAM
NSF EPSCoR – ACADEMIC YEAR 07-08

The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) announces a program to promote undergraduate research. Eligible students must be undergraduates either majoring in mathematics, science, or engineering, or majoring in education and specializing in teaching K-12 in the fields of mathematics, science, or technology. Research will be conducted under the guidance of a faculty mentor at the University of Nevada Reno ( UNR ), the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), or the Desert Research Institute ( DRI ). As part of the application process, students are required to identify a faculty mentor with whom they are interested in conducting research. Students may access the institution's departmental websites to identify faculty engaged in the area of research that matches student's interest. Potential faculty mentors list may also be viewed at http://www.nevada.edu/epscor/mentor.html, but faculty mentors are not limited to those listed.

The program is supported by the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) with matching funds from NSHE. Approximately 25 competitive awards will be made to successful applicants who will conduct research from October 2007 to May 2008. Students will be selected based on a statewide merit-based review.

Interested students need to discuss the research plan with their faculty mentor prior to preparing the proposal. Undergraduate research often leads to longer-term collaboration between students and faculty. Students receiving the undergraduate research grants often perform publishable research and become well prepared to pursue advanced degrees.

Compensation:

•  The program provides student recipients with a stipend of $12/hour for an average of 40 hours per month for up to 8 months.

•  Each mentor will receive $950 which must be spent to support the research project.

Potential applicants with questions regarding this program should contact the Program Leaders Dr. Saiid Saiidi at UNR (ugresearch@unr.edu) or Dr. John Farley at UNLV (farley@unlv.nevada.edu).

Program Guidelines:

• This competition is open only to US Citizens and US Permanent Residents, who are full time students during the 2007-08 academic year.

• Proposals to conduct research as part of current or past NSF-EPSCoR funded projects are encouraged. Visit the Nevada EPSCoR web site: (http://www.nevada.edu/epscor/projects.html) for a list of the projects. Also encouraged are proposals from members of under-represented groups.

• For the safety of participants, students whose research will include laboratory/field work will be required to attend a safety class. Details will be provided to participants.

• Each student must prepare a paper and present it at the Nevada Undergraduate Research Symposium (NURS) to be held in April 2008. The presentation shall be in the form of an oral presentation or a poster, the details of which will be provided at a later date.

• Students graduating in December 2007 are ineligible for this competition.

• Applicants must be majoring in an undergraduate degree program in math, science, engineering, or be undergraduate students majoring in education and specializing in teaching K-12 in the fields of mathematics, science, or technology.

• Students must be enrolled at one of the NSHE institutions: UNLV, UNR , NSC , CCSN, GBC , TMCC, WNCC, or the Sierra Nevada College

• Complete application materials must be received by October 8, 2007 . Late or incomplete applications or those not adhering to the guidelines will not be given further consideration.

• Applicants must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher.

IMPORTANT: Applications and all the material listed below must be received ELECTRONICALLY by Alice Ward by October 8, 2007.

Please note that only complete applications that meet the format requirements will be reviewed.

REQUIRED FORMAT:

To submit your application materials, you MUST follow this format:

All the required documents need to be combined into a single pdf file . In the "subject" line of your email, put your last name and first name initial, underscore, the "EPSCoR_Acadmic". For example, when Tom Rodriguez submits his proposal, in the e-mail subject line he would type: (rodriguez t_ESPCoR_Academic) . The personal statement and project description must be single-spaced, no smaller than 11 point font, and one-inch margins. The number of pages must be exactly as specified below.

1. COVER PAGE: (one page) Please complete the form. Download the form by clicking the link on the right side of this web page. The cover page constitutes the first page of your proposal.
2. PERSONAL STATEMENT: (one page) Please describe a) your academic background, b) scientific interests, c) any past research experience, d) what you hope to gain from the research experience.
3 . PROJECT DESCRIPTION: (two pages) The project description must consist of 1. Abstract (60-70 words), 2. Introduction, 3. Objectives, 4. Plans for research, 5. Timetable, and 6. Plans for dissemination of results. The proposal must be understandable to reviewers outside student's major field of study.
4. SUPPORT LETTER: ( one page ) Provide a letter of endorsement from the supervising faculty mentor that describes her/his level of involvement in the project. Scan the letter and include in the proposal.
5. TRANSCRIPTS: Scanned official transcripts or computer generated transcripts must be included in the proposal that is submitted as a single pdf file.

E- MAIL the proposal by Oct 8, 2007 to Ms. Alice Ward at: nshe-spo@nevada.edu

The receipt of your proposal will be acknowledged by email by October 10. Contact Ms. Ward immediately if you do not receive the acknowledgement by the morning of Ocober 10.

If you have any questions about this process, please email your questions to Ms. Ward at: alicew@nevada.edu

The Nevada System of Higher Education is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. This program is funded by the NSF Award EPS-0447416 and must be acknowledged on any posters or publishable papers as a result from this program.

Application Guidelines