Research Grants- Quick Guide
Research grants are limited funds provided to approved undergraduate research recipients in need of purchasing power to obtain essential supplies, materials, or services required to conduct mentored research independently throughout the academic year. The grant will be made available to the department overseeing the research for the purpose of making necessary purchases.
Eligibility and Deadlines:
Proposals must include a project overview, a personal statement, proposed budget, and a letter of endorsement from the research mentor guiding the research. Please note that many proposals receive partial funding, and we encourage students to seek funding from multiple sources, including their academic departments.
Research Grant recipients are required to share their research with the university community at the Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in April 2023. Approved recipients are required to participate in Aresty's research preparation workshops in advance of the Symposium. These peers led symposium preparedness workshops are available February- March.
Academic Year 2024-2025 Proposal Opens: August 31, 2024
Academic Year 2024-2025 Proposal Deadline: October 15, 2024
These grants are offered jointly by the Aresty Research Center, the Honors Program of the School of Arts and Sciences, the Honors College, and the Douglass Residential College. Please indicate your affiliation, if any, in the “Funding Unit” part of the application. If you are awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant, funding will come from one of these sources. Please note, SAS senior thesis applicants must identify this affiliation for SAS Scholarship Office funding opportunities.
Who is Eligible?
Rutgers-New Brunswick undergraduates who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply:
- Working on a research project with a high degree of independence
- Previous research experience in the field of the research proposed
- Established relationship with a research mentor who can endorse and oversee the proposed project
- Significant involvement and independence in both formulating the question and conducting the proposed investigation
Many successful applicants are registered in an independent research course. Please include your course number in your application.
Who is not eligible?
This program is not able to fund students who are currently in the Aresty Research Assistant Program. We also are not able to fund requests related to senior design projects in the School of Engineering or thesis-related research in the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS senior theses applicants can apply and have their applications referred to the SAS Scholarship Office)
Academic Duration
Undergraduate Research Grants can support research projects up to one full year in length. The duration may include projects that begin in the fall, spring, or summer terms. The fall application should cover all possible terms.
How to Apply:
Apply Here!
All applications will be completed online. The online application requires the following documents:
- Project overview: What are the contexts, aims, methods, and motivations for your research? What materials do you need and why? (4-5 pages, double-spaced)
- Please devise the overview with an educated non-specialist as your intended audience.
- Personal statement: How does your research fit into your professional and personal goals? How did you arrive at this point, and where to you hope it will lead? (1-2 pages, double-spaced)
- Itemized budget
- Advisor endorsement (it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure application is complete)
- Travel plan (if the research requires international travel).
Items That May Be Funded
- Expendable supplies and services directly related to the student's proposed research (limited to those items not normally provided by the student’s research department). If your proposed project uses animals, you must justify the number you are proposing to use.
- Individually initiated travel to special collections, libraries, archives, research facilities, research sites, and other special resources. Costs that may be covered include transportation (airfare, rail tickets, gasoline, highway tolls, etc.) and lodging.
- Books (when unavailable through the Rutgers University libraries, via Inter-Library Loan or limited digital access).
- Participant/subject costs: Only when access to a participant pool is unavailable, and compensation is a necessary component built into the design of the proposal. The number of participants and individual participant cost must be justified.
- Limited photocopying, if digital access is unavailable (e.g. surveys to be distributed). Photocopying will not be considered an alternative to note taking and must be specifically justified in the proposal.
Items That May NOT Be Funded
- Living expenses (e.g. meals, rent, clothing, laundry, Internet service, utilities, etc.).
- Tuition at Rutgers University or any other educational institution, domestic or abroad.
- Stipends/per diems.
- Equipment (e.g. computers, software, lab equipment) that will be used beyond the duration of the specified research project.
- Software and software licenses that are accessible to students on campus.