Undergraduate Research Award Program - Guidelines

The Office of Research is pleased to announce the availability of funding to support undergraduate student research and scholarship for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025. The purpose of this program is to allow undergraduate students to obtain funding to offset the costs associated with doing research undertaken in a CSU credit-bearing course during the Fall 2024 and/or Spring 2025 semester(s). There are $20,000 total funds available for this program, and it is anticipated that 20 proposals will be funded. Questions about the program may be addressed to Joy Yard, 687-9364, j.yard@csuohio.edu, or Roman Konrdatov, 687-5171, r.kondratov@csuohio.edu.

Terms of Award

The awarded funds must be expended by the last day of the Fall 2024 semester or the last day of the Spring 2025 semester, depending on the period covered by the award. Before work can begin on projects that involve the study of humans or animals, awardees must obtain approval from the Institutional Review Board or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Questions regarding these issues should be directed to Sponsored Programs and Research Services (SPRS).

The Office of Research exercises no direction or supervision over the details of the activities to be performed, but it does require adherence to the original objectives and purposes of the proposal.

Any publication (report, journal article, etc.) resulting from an Undergraduate Research Award must carry an acknowledgment that the project was carried out with support from the Cleveland State University Undergraduate Research Award Program.

All equipment purchased under the Undergraduate Research Award Program becomes the sole property of the University and, for property control purposes, is assigned to the department in which the awardee holds his or her appointment.

All awards are administered through the Office of Research. Award funds must be expended for the purposes described in the proposal and in accordance with applicable University regulations and procedures. All award funds remaining unspent after the period covered by the award will revert back to the Office of Research for redistribution; no extensions will be granted.

At the end of the period during which support is provided, the student will submit a report summarizing results of the project and accounting for expenditures to Joy Yard (j.yard@csuohio.edu) and Roman Kondratov (r.kondratov@csuohio.edu).

Guidelines

Students may apply for up to $1,000. The funding could be devoted to activities in a single semester, or spread out over the full academic year. Students receiving funding through this program are eligible - and in fact encouraged - to work with a faculty member to apply for an Undergraduate Summer Research Award. A project should be a substantially independent endeavor of the student even if it is closely related to an ongoing faculty project. All forms of research, scholarship and creative activity are encouraged.

Students working on grant-funded projects may request support if they can demonstrate clearly that their research is not already supported by the external funding. To be eligible, the proposed activity should be undertaken as part of the requirements for an undergraduate Cleveland State University course for which the student receives credit. Applicants must be CSU students with at least junior standing. They should be in good academic standing with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better. Students must submit completed applications and receive approval prior to expending the funds being requested.

Preparing the Application

Proposals should be written using language that may be understood by non-specialist faculty colleagues and focus on the learning experiences of the undergraduate student(s).

Applications must be prepared using a 10-point or larger font on 8½" x 11" paper with 1" margins. Handwritten materials will not be accepted.

In addition to a completed cover page, all proposals should be a maximum of two pages and include a description of the research project, a budget outlining how the funding would be used, and a justification for that budget.

There are two deadlines for applications each academic year, one for Fall and one for Spring. The deadline for Fall funding is the last Monday of April, and the deadline for Spring funding is the last Monday of November. Applications must be submitted as a single PDF-formatted attachment to Joy Yard (j.yard@csuohio.edu) and Roman Kondratov (r.kondratov@csuohio.edu) by 5pm on the date of the deadline. Award decisions are expected within five weeks of the deadline.

The proposals will be reviewed by a panel of faculty reviewers chosen by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Allowable expenses include: Supplies and materials or travel required for the project. Computer software and equipment can be funded only if it can be demonstrated that it is essential to the project and cannot be obtained by other means at CSU. Computer software and equipment purchased through an undergraduate research grant will remain the property of the University after the project's completion.

Non-allowable expenses include: Equipment, materials paid for by fees, maintenance costs of existing equipment, student salary, or conference fees, laptop; iPad (or any other tablet); iPod; iPhone (or any other cell phone).

The Colleges will be responsible for monitoring the account for adherence to Cleveland State University's accounting policies and practices. Over-expenditure of the account(s) will be charged back to the College(s).

If questions arise concerning the acceptability of anticipated costs for support, they should be directed to Joy Yard, 687-9364, j.yard@csuohio.edu, or Roman Kondratov, 687-5171, r.kondratov@csuohio.edu.