Undergraduate Student Research Experience Award
Do you want to be a Researcher?
Engaging in your own original research is a proven way to beef up your resume and increase your academic and professional success! Research activities can also just make your time in university more interesting and rewarding. The Undergraduate Student Research Experience Award Program (UREAP) is a $4500 scholarship that provides some funds to help get you started.
What is research, anyway?
That can be a tough question for anybody to answer, but if it helps, TRU takes a broad definition of research. This means that while it is relatively easy to see how working on a particular enzyme in a lab over in one of our state-of-the-art science facilities would qualify, other activities such as inventing innovative new ways to heat a house, finding new ways to look at social issues, writing a play or a novel or creating an artistic work can all qualify as "research".
One way to get an idea of what kinds of research you can do would be to discuss it with some of your professors. Another would be to have a look at some
previously funded projects to see what kinds of research has been funded in the past.
How Much is the Award and How Does it Work?
The UREAP award is a scholarship in the amount of $4500. In addition to the $4500, funded projects are eligible to receive up to $1000 in funding to cover various expenses. Eligible expenses would be things like materials and supplies or travel for the purpose of research or to conferences to disseminate your research findings. Please note that the additional funding allowance is only available to projects funded under the UREAP program, and are not guaranteed. They are subject to the discretion of the UREAP adjudication committee and the availability of funds.
If you have an idea or wish to create a project to propose for a UREAP scholarship, you should speak to your instructors. You will need a faculty member to to agree to supervise your project and to provide input on your application.
Once the applications have been received, they are adjudicated by an internal committee, and applicants will be notified of the results. Applicants who receive awards and their supervisors will receive details about how to proceed with their projects. The scholarship portion of the award is disbursed to the student in three payments that coincide with particular project deliverables, and the expense portion is reimbursed with the appropriate receipts when the project has been completed.
Do I Qualify to Apply?
In order to be considered for a U-REAP award, you must:
- Be a full time student of Thompson Rivers University, enrolled in an Undergraduate program of study
- Have completed a minimum of 60 credits of Undergraduate Study
- Have a minimum GPA of 3.0*
(Sometimes an otherwise excellent student has circumstances arise which impact his or her GPA for a semester or two, or sometimes a now-excellent student has a bit of a rough time getting started in first and maybe second year - if you are one of these kinds of students, you may submit an application with an explanation of the circumstances of your GPA for consideration.)
- Have a faculty member who is willing to supervise your project
- Not have benefited from a U-REAP award in the past
How Do I Apply?
You can
apply for UREAP by using this form (if you have difficulty with the pdf form, try
this doc). It should be completed and delivered to the research office (Clock Tower 225), by 4:00 pm on the application deadline, accompanied by an official transcript and in addition to at least two letters of support from members of the TRU faculty. Please note the detailed instructions found on the application form (ie. referee letters should be delivered to the research office in sealed envelopes, signed over the seal by the referee. If you are, for any reason, unable to use the form provided, please contact the Research Office for detailed requirements for a manual application. Applications received that do not follow guidelines may be disqualified by the committee.
If your project involves stakeholders outside of TRU, you are welcome to provide supplementary letters from outside parties that speak to the feasibility of your project, however these letters must be in addition to the two letters of support from members of the faculty. Faculty should submit their letters of support, in accordance with UREAP guidelines on the
Application Support Form.
Application Deadline
| Fall |
October 24, 2011
|
| Spring |
February 17, 2012
|
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