Call for Proposals and  Guidelines 20114

A limited number of summer research awards will be available for COS students mentored by a COS faculty member. The Application, Current Resume, Research Proposal, and Faculty letter of support must be submitted to 2submit@rit.edu by 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday February 10, 2012.

Click here for Application.                   Click here for Application .pdf

Please submit documents named as follows (pdf format required, labeled with student’s last name):

1.       Lastname_application.pdf
2.       Lastname_resume.pdf
3.       Lastname_proposal.pdf
4.       Lastname_letter.pdf

PrimoPDF converts just about any file type to a PDF  Download it here 

ELIGIBILITY: Any student who will be an undergraduate enrolled in a COS program of study in the fall quarter 20121 may apply. 

AWARDS:  The student award amount is $3000.  Please be aware that this award is intended to involve fulltime participation by the student for a period of ten weeks during summer 2012 and students should not be engaged in outside employment or coursework during this period. All students are expected to fully participate in all aspects of the research. Preference will be given to students who have not received prior funding in this program. The exact start and stop date will be established later. Finally, presentation at either the RIT Summer Undergraduate Research and Innovation Symposium or the College of Science Undergraduate Research Seminar Series is required. 

NOTES FOR FACULTY: Faculty mentors are expected to write a letter of support. Letters of support must describe your opinion of the student and place the research project in the context of any ongoing research.  The following questions should be addressed: Is this a new project or part of an ongoing investigation?  Will this project spawn additional work that extends beyond the summer?  What are the primary benefits this project will have both for the student and yourself? Why is this particular student well suited for the project?  Faculty mentors with multiple students applying for funding in this program must provide a ranking indicating a preference of which projects they would most like to see funded.  This will not preclude lower ranked students from being accepted, but the mentor’s insight about each student/project is useful information for the committee to take into consideration.  Please note that it is unlikely for more than two students working with a single mentor to be funded.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL GUIDELINES:  Please adhere to the following organizational guidelines when writing your research proposal.  Keep in mind that the members of the review committee are not necessarily experts in your field. Research proposals are expected to be written by the student with input from the faculty mentor. The entire research proposal should be no more than 3 pages in length, excluding up to a page of references.

In particular, any successful proposal will demonstrate:

• Clear Statement of Research Problem
• Significance and Originality
• Logical Project Design and Clear Methodology

Each of the following components MUST be included:

Abstract (200 words or less):  Concisely state the aims of your project.  What are the specific questions you seek to answer? What are your specific goals and objectives for the summer?

Background: Clearly and logically lay out the problem or question that you will attempt to answer. Provide sufficient background to help the general reader understand your project.  You must describe your project in language accessible to the general science audience since reviewers will not necessarily be experts in your field. What is known and not known in this area of inquiry?  Provide citations from the relevant literature.  

Significance: Explicitly and clearly explain why this problem is important.  To whom is this work interesting?  How important would the solution to this problem be?  What makes this project novel?

Project Design: As specifically as possible, describe how you will attack your problem, using language accessible to the general science audience and not going into highly technical detail. While it is true that research often goes in unforeseen directions, success in a 10-week summer project requires a very high level of focus.  The clearer your goals, the more likely you are to have a productive experience.

It is important that you indicate the ways in which you as a student will make intellectual contributions to the project.  If your work requires compliance with published university research policies e.g., work with human subjects, animals, hazardous material, etc., please explain what steps you will take to receive the required approval.