Small Grants for Undergraduate Research and Creative Work

The Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research provide small grants to facilitate undergraduate research and creative scholarship. These funds are open for use for purchasing research supply materials as well as traveling to conduct research if the facilities or materials are not available at the U of Iowa. For example, if a student needed to travel to the Field Museum in Chicago to study relevant collections at that facility, these funds would be applicable. 

Some activities that do not qualify for this funding are travel to conferences or presentations, field schools, internship travel, graduate or professional school interviews, computers, etc. Travel awards for undergraduate research presentations or conference attendance are available separately through OUR.

Awards are limited to one application per faculty mentor per academic year.

Value

OUR offers one-time grants of up to $1,000 that are available for research and creative work expenses including equipment, supplies, software, travel to access facilities not available on campus, travel to access collections or materials not available on campus, interviews (research related), on location filming, etc. 

Projects with budgets greater than $1,000 must provide clear evidence that additional funds are available to cover the amount of money required beyond this award or that the project can be accomplished as written for the amount awarded. Funding will be transferred into the faculty mentor's preferred 050 MFK. Grant recipients have one year to expend the awarded funds. Those looking for summer funding should apply during the spring application cycle.

Post Award

At the conclusion of the project or the year-long period, recipients will be expected to submit a short expense report to OUR via email detailing how funds were expended and how the project has progressed. (Note: This is in lieu of receipt records and intended to show that funds were spent appropriately. It is understood that projects change and expenses may not exactly match the initial budget.) All equipment will be considered the property of the PI’s home department. 

Minimum Requirements

Eligibility

• The applicant must be enrolled as a degree-seeking undergraduate in good standing at the University of Iowa at the time of application and at the time of the award payment.
• The proposed research, scholarship or creative activity must be completed prior to graduation.
• An undergraduate may only receive this award once during their degree program.
• One application per faculty mentor per academic year.

Successful proposals reflect a carefully crafted and feasible research or creative endeavor plan. 

Application

Students need to fill out the application form.  Aside from basic information about the student and mentor pair, this form requests the following items:

1. Budget. Total amount needed and requested for the project, along with an itemized budget for expenses. Each expense/budget item should be line-separated, formatted as Item - $Amount – Reason/Justification. Excel documents may be uploaded.
2. Additional Funding. Descriptions of additional funding and documented verification of application or approval.
3. Project Information. A description of the research, scholarship or creative endeavor (500 word maximum). Appropriate information includes a research question, project goals, methods, persons involved, anticipated outcomes, and the knowledge gap addressed. Additional questions about the location of the project and the timeline for completion are included.
4. Student fit. A statement detailing the relevance of this project to the student’s academic and career goals (300 words maximum). The location where the project will take place, a series of questions related to budget expenditures, and other sources of financial assistance available or pending.
5. Faculty Support. A letter of support from the student's faculty research mentor confirming that: (1) funding is necessary for the project, (2) that the project has faculty endorsement, is well conceived and rigorously designed, and (3) that the project is connected to the student's academic and professional goals.
6. Human Subjects. For projects involving human subjects, relevant approval documents from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) must be provided. If the budget includes compensation for research participants, the student's department must agree to receive and administer the funds. These steps are required before funding can be released.

Students must submit their part of the application materials to their mentor at least two weeks prior to the submission deadline. Students should inform their mentor that they intend to apply as early as possible and work closely with their mentor in designing the application. Applications must be submitted by the student.

Deadline
Applications accepted during the academic year. All funds must be disbursed during the academic year. 

Additional Information

Please direct any questions to OUR via email at undergraduate-research@uiowa.edu