Summer Fellowship 2008

Request for Proposals

The SMART Program will fund 3-6 SMART Summer Fellowships for Summer 2008.  Each fellowship will be for $1700 for 5 full weeks (200 hours) or $3400 for 10 full weeks  (400 hours) of research or creative activities by an IUSB undergraduate student.  The purpose of these fellowships is to allow students to work full time on a major research project.  These funds go directly to the student in installments paid over the course of the project.  If there are other costs associated with the project, the student may submit a separate budget for up to $300 that will be considered separately by the committee as a Research Expense Grant.

Project topics may range across the disciplines, from experiments in the sciences to performances in the arts.  Each student is expected to be closely supervised by a faculty mentor, where the type of supervision may vary from consultation and guidance on an independent project generated by the student to working with the mentor on a specific part of the mentor's own research or creative activities.  A list of past awards and some sample proposals are available on-line.

Requirements for the Summer Fellowships are the following:

• The student must be an undergraduate at Indiana University South Bend above the freshman level, with a GPA of at least 2.5.
• A faculty member must endorse the project and closely mentor the student.
• Proposals must be submitted in electronic format by the due date (March 24, 2008).
• All appropriate research compliance requirements, e.g. animal, biosafety, and human subject approval must be in place at the time of application.
• A final report of project results must be submitted before the student will be able to receive the final installment of the fellowship stipend.  This final report should be prepared in consultation with the mentor and may take several forms, but at the minimum, it should outline the work that the student has accomplished (e.g., activities, results, performances) as a result of SMART funding.

The proposal should be submitted in electronic format (diskette, CD or e-mail) and should include:

1. Cover page with project title, student name, address, university ID, email, and expected graduation date.
2. 3-5 page description of the proposed summer project, written by the student.  The SMART committee strongly advises the student to work closely with his or her faculty mentor in preparation of this description.  The SMART committee is composed of faculty from many disciplines, so the proposal should be written to be understood by  a general academic audience.
3. Time budget or plan of research/creative activities, including amount requested ($1700 or $3400).
4. Letter of support from the faculty mentor addressing three major issues:
   • feasibility and worthiness of the project,
   • student qualifications for the project,
   • educational benefits to be derived by the student.

The faculty letter should not be used to elaborate on the student's description of the research project. It is the responsibility of the student to describe the project fully and clearly.

All decisions about funding will be made by the SMART Program committee. 

Notification date is April 14, 2008.

Application due date: March 24, 2008

 All proposals and faculty letters should be submitted in electronic format, either by
e-mail or on CD/diskette.  Send proposals to Erika Zynda, Academic Affairs, A247
For more information, contact
 Andrew Schnabel at 574-520-4413 or Erika Zynda at 574-520-4181.