Willamette University offers research grants to undergraduates who are interested in working collaboratively with faculty on projects in the sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Exercise Science, and Physics. The intent of this program is to provide an opportunity for science students and faculty to go beyond the classroom by collaborating on a wide variety of research projects. Faculty share with students the excitement of doing basic research, presenting papers at professional meetings, and publishing results in peer-reviewed professional journals. Most students in the program choose to focus on some aspect of a faculty member's established research, but the exceptionally mature student with separate but related research interests has a place as well. Student participants have published in refereed journals, and have presented their work at national and local professional meetings including the Murdock College Science Research Program Regional Conference. The Science Collaborative Research Program began in 1996 with funding from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and since 1999 has been funded by an endowment from the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation.
General Information
View application guidelines. The guidelines for the Science Collaborative Research Program are to be used by students, faculty, and the committee that awards grants. In developing a proposal, a student should use the guidelines as a basis for project design and then continue asking questions of faculty members, past grant recipients, and former sponsors.
All Willamette students who will be enrolled in a bachelor's degree program at Willamette in the year following the award are eligible and encouraged to apply for a Science Collaborative Research Program Grant. (Graduating seniors are not eligible.) Preference will be given to applicants who have not participated in the Science Collaborative Research Program before.
Awards will only be given to Willamette students who are sponsored by a Willamette University faculty member. The sponsor must endorse the student proposal and write a short recommendation letter.
The maximum amount awarded is a $4,000 stipend, plus support for room and board.
The deadline for submission of proposals is typically the second week in February, and awards are announced by the first week in March.
It is strongly recommended that students who are interested in applying for grants attend information sessions sponsored by the Science Collaborative Research Program in the fall semester of each year. Information sessions, led by project sponsors, are designed to explain the research program, answer questions, and encourage participation in the Science Collaborative Research Program.