EIU Pine Honors College

Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (URSCA)

In 2024-25 URSCA grants will be in the amount of $800 for fall and spring grants. 

All undergraduates from all disciplines with a faculty sponsor and a 3.0 GPA or higher can apply. Students do not need to be participants in an Honors program to be eligible.

Students have presented their URSCA-funded research and creative activity at regional and national discipline-specific conferences, and at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

See a list of our URSCA award winners.

Requirements

• Students must be undergraduates in good standing with a minimum 3.00 GPA.
• Students must be enrolled full-time for both the current semester and the semester in which the research/creative activity is to be conducted.
• For summer awards, students must be enrolled in at least one research or creative activity class related to the funded project; this includes independent study courses.
• For fall and spring awards, students must work on an independent project under the guidance of a research mentor.
• Students must complete their research and submit the summary reflection to the Honors College at the end of the term for which the grant was awarded.
• Students do not need to be part of the Honors College to apply.

Fall, Spring, and Summer Awards

Depending on the availability of funds, the award for fall and spring applicants will be in the amount of $800.  $300 will be transferred to the faculty mentor's department to help support the student's research project. $500 will be credited to the student researcher's account as a tuition waiver. Funds transferred to the department can be spent on the student's research in a number of ways—the student researcher's supplies, software, licenses, prizes for surveys, travel to off-campus conferences (or other research travel), etc. can be covered. Additional funds are also available to allow students to travel to NCUR (in 2025, it will be in Pittsburgh, PA), so those should not be requested as part of the URSCA grant budget.

Summer awards are usually larger ($2,000–$3,000 depending on the number of applications funded) and are enough to cover the cost of a summer course.

Deadlines

• **Fall 2024 URSCA applications: Friday, April 5, 2024
• Spring 2025 URSCA applications: Friday, October 25, 2024
• Summer 2025 URSCA applications: Friday, March 14, 2025
• Fall 2025 URSCA applications: Friday, April 4, 2025

**This is an extra opportunity to apply. Those who received funds under the spring deadline do not need to re-apply, and will receive the higher amount presuming that it can be usefully spent.

Note: applications open on AcademicWorks for each round approximately one week after the previous round closes.

To Apply

1. Review the proposal instructions found here. Feel free to look at these samples of prior successful URSCA proposals.
   • A good proposal will contain a clear project with a detailed timeline, a plan for publicizing the results of research, and specific plans for the funds to be awarded.
2. Complete the written part of your proposal in a Word document, then share it with your faculty mentor for review.
3. Complete and submit your application on AcademicWorks.
4. Your faculty mentor will receive an email requesting information in support of your application.

Note: The last question asks for a budget—please be as specific as possible. Travel to the annual NCUR conference is funded separately from the URSCA award, so please do not list NCUR travel as a category of expense.