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Harrison Undergraduate Research Award Recipients 1999-2000

This award program, administered by the Faculty Senate, will fund outstanding undergraduate research projects in the spring and/or summer of 2000. Working in collaboration with a faculty advisor (teaching and general faculty), each awardee will plan and implement a substantial and significant research project. Twenty-five awards of $4000 each will be granted on a competitive basis; normally $3000 will be awarded to the student and $1000 will be awarded to the faculty advisor. In the course of carrying out the research project, each awardee will be expected to create a bibliography of relevant background materials, read and research the topic, establish contacts with professionals in the field and produce a final product (e.g. final paper, creative project, presentation) that summarizes his or her findings.

Applicants are urged to think creatively in conceptualizing their research projects. Proposals focusing on any of the undergraduate fields represented at the University will be considered. Applications that integrate different areas and approaches are encouraged. One might want to examine the overlap of two disciplines such as philosophy and medicine, where important new realms (e.g. bioethics) have emerged. Projects might entail the kind of imaginative scholarship that is the hallmark of many humanities departments, using the award to provide funds for a summer period of serious contemplation. They might involve travel, either within or outside of the U.S., to take advantage of resources that would be otherwise inaccessible. Proposals requiring laboratory work might call for the purchase of equipment that could not be obtained without an award of this kind.

Undergraduate students who wish to apply for one of these awards should submit the following materials by December 1 to Frances Peyton in the Faculty Senate Office at the Rotunda. Submissions may be made electronically (to ftp7e@virginia.edu) if they are formatted in Microsoft Word:

  1. A concise description (one page maximum) of the proposed research project. The applicant should explain what is to be done, where the research will be carried out and what the final product will be. A schedule for the implementation of the project should be included. The applicant should also indicate what impact the research project will have on his or her intellectual development and how the project relates to any ongoing research program (such as a Distinguished Major thesis);
  2. A letter of support from the student's advisor;
  3. A budget of anticipated expenditures (half a page maximum), including travel, food and housing, research supplies and materials.

If you have questions about the awards or the application procedure you may contact Professor Robert Grainger via e-mail (rmg9p@virginia.edu).

Notification of awards will be made on January 15.