The Office of Undergraduate Research at Íæż½ã½ã is seeking proposals from undergraduate students to support their research and creative activities.
The O.U.R. Grant program is meant to encourage undergraduate students from all academic areas to participate in scholarly work mentored by at least one Íæż½ã½ã faculty member (tenure or tenure-track)
The work on this project should be unique in the sense that no part of it should be financially sponsored or accommodated by a different program (e.g. McNair, ASCENT, Honors, etc.) at the time of submission. However, further development of the project beyond the end of the grant is highly encouraged.
The written proposal must be created and submitted by the student and approved by the faculty mentor(s).
Each student, whose project is deemed meritorious, will be awarded a stipend of $500 and up to $1,000 for research support. All expenses for research support must be listed in the proposal budget. After the O.U.R. Grant is awarded, the items requested for research support must be documented (with the item description and quote), approved by the faculty mentor, and submitted to the Office of Undergraduate Research by Dec. 1.
* All Workshops and Panel Discussions will be also on Zoom ID 879-918-4160 and password 88888
Special Exemption: Students enrolled between 9 and 11 hours in either Fall or Spring of the current academic year are eligible to apply for an O.U.R. Grant, if a letter from the Department Chair of the students major accompany the proposal. The Department Chair should explain the special circumstances regarding the student's lower number of enrolled hours based on their degree plan. If a student is enrolled in <9 hours, the proposal will not be considered for review.
Special Exemption: Exceptional proposals from students with lower CGPAs will also be considered. The faculty mentor(s) is(are) requested to emphasize in his/her letter(s) what the merits of the proposal are and clearly state why he/she strongly supports the student's project despite the student being under the minimum GPA requirements. The reviewers will decide if the argument provided by the mentor is acceptable. The Director of the O.U.R. will make the final decision on whether or not to accept such proposals for funding.
Application Deadline: Sept. 25
Award Notification: Oct. 12
Award Ceremony: Oct. 24 (attendance at the award ceremony is mandatory for all O.U.R. Grant recipients and their faculty mentors)
Number of Awards: TBA
Disciplines: All majors from STEM and HASBSEB
Research Window: Nov. 1 – April 25
Request for research support: Nov. 1 - Dec. 1
Literature review window: Nov. 1 – O.U.R. Kick-off Day
The deadline for submission of proposals is 6 p.m. CST, Sept. 25.
1. Cover Sheet (one page)
Title of the Proposal:
Area of Research: Choose either HASBSEB (Humanities, Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education and Business) or STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Please consult with your mentor regarding your choice. You may also look at the attached rubric to learn more about the specific requirements for each of these two areas.
Student Information
Name:
Email Address:
Student’s Major:
Departmental affiliation:
(repeat this block for each student co-participant on the same O.U.R. grant)
Topic of Research: (e.g. microbiology, water treatment)
The Department/Center/School/Makerspace where the research project will be carried out. The location should not necessarily be the same with the department associated with the student’s major and can be located outside Lamar. The choice for this location should be done wisely and approved by the mentor(s) in his/her letter of support, so credit for research can be correctly attributed to the deserving department, center, makerspace, etc. In case the research will be done outside Lamar, an acceptance email or written notification sent to the mentor, should be provided by the host institution or person, and should be included in the proposal. Lack of such evidence of support disqualifies the proposal.
Faculty Mentor(s)' Name:
Faculty Mentor(s) Department(s):
Faculty Mentor Email:
(repeat this block for each mentor)
Is an I.R.B. approval needed for running the project (choose the correct answer): Yes or No
Eligibility Criteria
CGPA (should be greater than 2.8):
Major GPA (should be greater than 3.0):
Enrolled in current fall semester (coursework hours)*:
Enrolled in the next spring semester (coursework hours)*:
2. Narrative
3. One-page resume of each student applicant.
4. Budget Justification and timeline (one-page maximum for each)
5. Supporting Letter/Letter of Recommendation (LOR)
The O.U.R. reviewers will use the following guidelines to assess the O.U.R. grant proposals. Therefore, these guidelines should inspire and guide all students to prepare his/her research proposal.
$500 paid in two installments. One-half will be paid at the end of the fall semester upon completion of the paperwork package (offered at the O.U.R. Orientations) and also, bringing all the necessary clarifications to the research support requested in the proposal, including placing requisitions in the Cardinal Purch during the month of November. We intend to handle the first half stipend to the O.U.R. winners as a check, at the O.U.R. Awards Ceremony at the end of the fall semester; the second half will be paid in May, upon the submission of a complete Post-Grant report (deadline April 25).
Up to $1,000 will be awarded for research support, which may include supplies, disposable, small equipment, software, analytical services, books, research-related travel or services, etc. Íæż½ã½ã retains ownership of any equipment (including computers, tablets, electronic equipment or any other item with Íæż½ã½ã tag) purchased with these funds.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The research support listed in the Budget should be requested by December 1. Each request should include the exact quotes (with shipping and handling) and the items description from vendor’s webpage. With this info, the O.U.R. office will place a requisition in Cardinal Purch. Please be aware that it takes at least 3 weeks from submitting the request to O.U.R. till Lamar processes it.
After the completion of their work, O.U.R. grant recipients are encouraged to travel and to present to student or professional conferences in one’s discipline, outside Lamar. Travel to present to such conferences requires to fill out a “Request for Funds to Support Student Travel Involving Undergraduate Research/Creative Activity” (OUR_Form_T1_2019) with our office. Please send the request to travel to the Director of O.U.R. For more information please call at 409-880-8290, visit Chemistry 115B office, or send an email to cristian.bahrim@lamar.edu. If the project presented requires an I.R.B. approval, then this I.R.B. approval should be attached to the travel request. An I.R.B. approval is in the responsibility of the student and mentor(s).
Awardees must submit a post-grant report on the project’s results. All the post-grant reports are due on April 25, 2022, and should include the following pieces:
This post-grant report should be sent by email to the Director of O.U.R., cc to the mentor(s), and approved by the mentor(s) through an email response to the Director of O.U.R. Based on this report students will receive the second-half stipend of $250
Mandatory presentation at EXPO in mid-April.
If research is to be done outside of Lamar, then the mentor is requested to bring evidence from a person in charge of the other facility that the proposed research is welcome at that location, and all the safety measures and procedures will be enforced for the protection of our students, mentors, as well as of their equipment and property. In such a case, a written form will be generated by mentors and approved by the Director of O.U.R.
Amendments adopted by the Advisory Board Members on Sept. 7, 2022
1. Literature review has to be part of any O.U.R. proposal. Student submitters will indicate the appropriate literature for their projects with emphasis on the significance of the references selected and giving proper citations. It is expected that this should be done with mentor's assistance. The literature review will now be included in scoring two of the items from the rubric:
2. We accept double research affiliation of the same student(s) ONLY for O.U.R. projects that are clearly distinctive in goals and purpose. These projects can be for topics from the same field of study. Also, the distinction from the older projects has to be included in the Letter in Support from the mentor(s).
3. We encourage students to continue applying after one research experience, to another research experience, under O.U.R. programs (e.g., a S.U.R.F. winner is encouraged to continue with an O.U.R. grant, or vice-versa) or different programs (e.g., a S.U.R.F. fellow can become a McNair scholar and vice-versa), but we request that the goals and purpose of the new project to be distinctive.
The Office of Undergraduate Research requests to have a clear disclosure of what has been done in a previously sponsored research project and clearly state to what extend the new project is distinctive from the old one(s). The paragraph with such information will not count against the word limit or page limit of the O.U.R. grant proposal, and can be written as a separate paragraph.
4. Students with high performance in their O.U.R. grant proposals, but who do not qualify for a grant will be considered for receiving partial travel support to conferences/student events in the amount of up to $200. This is considered a form of encouragement for students to apply for O.U.R. grants, and it is expected to increase the competitiveness level of the O.U.R. grant proposals.