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Summer Grants: a stepping stone towards your future research careerFeb 07 '00 Write an essay on this topic.Many universities offer "in-house" summer grants to undergraduates. Other granting agencies outside your university may offer summer research grants. These grants are designed to support you while you do research over the summer. HOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THESE GRANTS Grants from your university: Every university is different, so you will need to do a little digging to find the info. These grants are designed for you, however, so you will not need to dig very deep! Some places to start: Go to the career center of your university and ask for information about these grants. Alternatively, go to the administrator of your department and ask about summer research grants for undergraduates. These people will at least be able to direct you to the proper desk. Or go to your university's website and look up undergraduate research grants. Grants outside your university: There are thousands of undergraduate summer grants available. These are for a varying lenght of time, pay different amounts of money, and have different requirements. Do a little poking around online to see what you can find. For example... In physics: http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/undergraduate/lablist.html In biology at Carnegie Mellon: http://info.bio.cmu.edu/Programs/SURP/ In chemistry, at lots of different universities: http://rainier.chem.plu.edu/sumr_res.html There are many, many more. WHY WOULD YOU WANT A SUMMER GRANT? 1) Supports you while you do research. Research of your own does not pay a salary. If you want to support yourself while doing research, you will need a grant -- this money is designed to be used for research equipment, travel, and living expenses. With a grant, you can do research 100% of the time, without waiting tables to pay the bills. 2) Good odds. Undergraduate grants are not nearly as competitive as grants for more advanced students. The URO at my undergrad institution is awarded to 50% of the applicants, which are fabulous odds. 3) Shows you are capable of winning grants. If you plan to apply for more grants in the future, having a summer grant under your belt will make you more attractive -- the granting agencies will see that you are motivated, have written winning proposals, and have already put grant money to good use. You are a little less of a wild card. 4) Good preparation for grad school. Applying for a grant, and actually performing research, is excellent preparation for graduate school. You will be doing a lot of BOTH of these activities throughout your graduate career. If you decide to become a professor or a research scientist, you will be doing this for the rest of your life. Grad schools love to see this kind of hands-on experience. Grad school is tough, and very different from undergrad (see my two epinions on graduate school for more information on this), so the more experience you get, the more attractive you are to graduate school admissions. 4) Good way to see if you like research A summer grant is a good trial period to see if you actually *like* conducting research. Research is very different from what you see on TV or read about in the paper. It is also very different from undergraduate study. Before launching into a graduate career, get your feet wet by getting a summer grant. If you like it, you'll be more attractive to grad schools, and may even generate get a publication (the ultimate goal of research). If you hate it, be glad you didn't have to get into grad school to find this out! HOW TO MAKE THE BEST USE OF YOUR GRANT 1) Plan a small project Plan to do something you can finish in three months, or that you can continue (part time) during the school year. You should work closely with a mentor to figure out what you can actually finish. Talk to your mentor about publication: a well-thought-out, three month project by an undergraduate can generate publishable data. Design your project with publication in mind. 2) Be ready to hit the ground running! Research takes a lot of preparation. Start well in advance -- buy tickets, make lists with prices, get equipment set up, reserve rooms, go over your protocol several times to iron out the kinks. When the summer starts, dig in right from day #1. You don't want to have to waste time in preparation when you could be doing research. The summer is short enough as it is. 3) Keep all your receipts Grants are fiddly, paperwork intensive things. Keep every single one of your receipts in one spot(I keep an envelope with me at all times). You will probably be asked for the originals -- either to prove that you spent the money correctly, or to get reimbursed. Make photocopies of all your receipts before you let go of the originals and keep the copies in a file in case of screw-ups by the administration.  |
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