Grants Support Summer Research
Applications for the TruScholars and Interdisciplinary Research Community Grant programs are due Feb. 6.
TruScholars Program Details
The Office of Student Research will once again offer intensive, summer TruScholars undergraduate research experiences. The purpose of the TruScholars program is to foster collaborative faculty-student research and creative activities to enhance undergraduate student learning. Projects supported by this program should exhibit the potential for scholarly publication, presentation at a regional or national conference, public performance or a gallery showing.
The formal part of the 2017 TruScholars program will coincide with the eight-week summer semester, beginning June 5 and ending July 28.
During the program, students should devote full-time effort to their project, and faculty mentors should be continuously available for consultation and collaboration. If student-faculty teams would like to begin their research earlier than June 5 because of the nature of the research, or enthusiasm for the project, they are encouraged to do so. The student-faculty team should develop a schedule that is best for the project with the understanding that there will be intense effort during the eight-week session. Application guidelines, important dates and frequently asked questions can be found at the OSR website.
To optimize the quality of the TruScholars experience, there will be a number of required elements including an orientation during the spring semester, attendance at two of three professional development workshops during the eight-week summer program, and presentation at the TruScholars Research Symposium, Aug. 26. Specific dates are given at the OSR website. Faculty will be asked to attend the orientation and research symposium as well as either lead or attend two of the three workshops.
The application includes a project description among other components and therefore students are encouraged to identify a faculty mentor as early as possible.
Interdisciplinary Research Community Grant Details
The OSR is continuing with an initiative to support interdisciplinary research teams over the summer of 2017 to serve as models for interdisciplinary undergraduate research and creative activities, and to foster a sense of community among Truman faculty, staff and students.
These Interdisciplinary Research Community Grant proposals should be written by two mentors, each from different departments, who will collaborate on a research project that involves and trains two undergraduate students, one from each of the mentor’s departments. Projects may be new or ongoing. Mentors choose student participants. Projects will be funded up to the maximum value of $9,500 per team and should equate to an eight-week equivalent period of time during the summer, June 5 to July 28. Budget may include $1,500 max stipend per mentor, $3,000 max stipend per student, and $9,500 max allocation for materials. Any material budget greater than $500 must be subtracted from the stipend budget amounts at the discretion of the mentors.
See the OSR website for full details of the program, program requirements and the proposal guidelines. Students and faculty involved in the IRC grant program will be required to participate in TruScholars summer workshops and the TruScholars Research Symposium. The deadline for applications, written by the two mentors, will be Feb. 6.
