Student Research Grants

• SRG Application Due Dates
  • Spring 2025, for projects starting July 1, 2025 or later, are due Thursday, May 15.
  • Fall 2025:
    • First Round, for projects beginning in Fall 2025, are due Thursday, Sept 18.
    • Second Round, for projects beginning in Winter 2026, are due Thursday, Oct 30.

  • Winter 2026, for projects beginning in Spring 2026, are due Thursday, Jan 22.

• SRG Spending Deadlines
  • Academic Year 24-25
    • All spending must be completed by May 9, 2025.
    • All receipts and documentation for spending and reimbursement must be submitted by May 13, 2025.
  • Academic Year 25-26
    • All spending must be completed by May 8, 2026.
    • All receipts and documentation for spending and reimbursement must be submitted by May 12, 2026.

Eligibility

• You must be currently enrolled at Union College and be performing research or scholarship for credit at Union College.

  You must be enrolled, or plan to be enrolled, in a senior thesis or project, Scholars project, research independent study, or research practicum (usually in the third term of the practicum).
  

• You must write and submit your own proposal.
  • You must submit a detailed proposal describing your plan project.
  • We consider the proposal writing process to be an integral part of the research experience.
  • (New in AY 25-26!) Group projects (up to 3 students) with shared proposals, resources, and budgets are acceptable, however each student applying for funds must be responsible for completing an independent, distinct piece of the project. The individual contributions of each student must be described at length in the group proposal.
    
• Your proposed project must fall within the scope of a Student Research Grant.
  • SRGs fund student-led research and scholarship supervised by a faculty mentor.
  • Engineering competition design teams are ineligible for individual SRG funding. However, funding for such teams is available from the Dean of Engineering’s Office.
  • Projects, term papers, or major assignments in courses that are not research based are ineligible for SRG funding.
  • Terms abroad are ineligible for SRG funding.
• You must have met all of your prior obligations for funding received from the Undergraduate Research Office.

  If, in the past, you received a Summer Research Fellowship from the UGR Office, but did not complete an exit survey and a final report, if required by your mentor, you are ineligible for SRG funding.

• Rules for Research Supplies

  Research Supplies are divided into two groups: consumables, which are used up during your project, and permanent equipment / reusable items, which are things that can be used again by your advisor, lab, or department. All items purchased with Student Research Grant funds are the property of the College and remain so upon the completion of the project.

  Consumables could include a wide variety of things:

  • Art supplies
  • Reagents
  • Parts for constructing a device or exhibit
  • Payment for access to data sets, specialized software, or training not already available at Union College.
  • Postcards and / or food for a senior art show, at a maximum of $100

  Permanent equipment and reusable items require a 30% match by whomever will retain and use the items after the project is completed (i.e., the project advisor, lab, department, or program). Reusable items are defined as things that the entity providing the matching funds (i.e. faculty advisor or department/program) has a reasonable expectation of being able to reuse. Please discuss with your advisor the potential reusability of the items in your proposal and if they will be willing to provide matching funds for any of them if required. Both your project proposal and your advisor’s support letter should clearly discuss matching on reusable items. Costs for permanent/reusable equipment should not comprise more than 50% of the requested funds.

  Examples of items that in certain contexts have been determined to be reusable include:

  • Small laboratory equipment
  • Costumes
  • Sensors, batteries and other components that can reasonably be disassembled and are likely to be reused

  Proposal Guidance: Make sure to list all supplies that you are purchasing in your budget, including their cost and where they will be purchased from. Make sure to include the expected shipping and handling charges as well. Do not include taxes, as Union College is tax exempt in New York state and various other states. Your budget should also indicate if an item is reusable.

• Rules for Research Travel

  Student Research Grants can be used to pay for travel expenses, like transportation, lodging, and meals, for the purposes of conducting research, like gathering data, view archival materials, or conducting interviews. These funds are not to be used for travel to present research at conferences (see Student Conference Travel Grants instead).

  • Transportation. Please use the least expensive travel method available. As of 2024, the College reimburses personal vehicle mileage at $0.67/mile. Gas costs are not separately reimbursed. Note that local travel in the Schenectady area is not covered.
  • Lodging. The College will cover the cost of moderately priced accommodations. Use the most reasonable lodging option, taking into account factors such as cost, availability, and location.
  • Meals. You can budget up to $45 per day for meals while traveling.
  • Access Fees. Payment to enter museums, libraries, or other venues where you will be conducting your research.

  In the case of group trips please coordinate with the other travelers to appropriately share lodging and local transportation costs.

  You must complete the Off-Campus Travel Application for all UGR funded travel, before you travel. Please work with your advisor to do this, but it does not have to be completed before you submit your SRG proposal.

  Proposal Guidance: Provide a clear explanation for why travel is required and explain why your project could not be accomplished remotely via phone, video conferencing, or email. If your travel is to conduct interviews with specific individuals, include documentation showing that you are in contact with these individuals, and they have agreed to be interviewed.

• Rules for Paying Study Participants

  Student Research Grants can be used to compensate study participants. The typical participant pay rate is $10/hour. There are several options for compensating participants discussed below; please work with your advisor to determine the most appropriate method for your project.

  1. Payment through Online Research Platforms, e.g., Prolific, MTurk, CloudResearch.
  2. Payment by Gift Card.
  3. Payment by a small Tangible Gift.
  4. Payment through Digital Wallet Services, e.g., Venmo, Paypal. Unless your advisor agrees to make these payments on your behalf, you will need to make this payment from a personal account and then later be reimbursed by the College.
  5. Payment in Cash. Your advisor can work with the College to arrange a cash advance for you to distribute. If you wish to use this option, your proposal must explain why cash compensation is necessitated by your project and the participants you will be working with.

  Some additional considerations:

  • Note that Options 2, 3, 4, & 5 also require additional documentation of compensation made to study participants, especially for participants that are not members of the Union community (students, faculty, staff). See the SRG Participant Payment Guidelines for more information.
  • You may not compensate participants with donations made on their behalf.
  • You may not begin spending SRG funds for a human subject study unless the College’s Human Subject Review Committee (HSRC) has either approved or exempted your study. Please work with your advisor and the HSRC to ensure that you’ve completed all requirements to begin your study. If the HSRC has already approved or exempted your study, please indicate this in your SRG application.

  Proposal Guidance: Make sure that you justify the participant compensation method you’ve selected using concrete details of your study. This is especially important for Options 4 & 5.

• Examples of Expenses Not Covered by Student Research Grants

  The following are examples of expenses that cannot be paid with SRG funds, have restrictions on purchase, or should be sourced on campus.

  Prohibited Expenses

  The following things that cannot be purchased with SRG funds.

  • Purchase of alcoholic beverages.
  • Payment to professionals, e.g., laboratory assistants, translators, accompanying musicians, web designers.
  • Purchase of major equipment.

  Restricted Expenses

  Things that can be purchased with SRG funds, but need additional explanation in your proposal.

  • Cameras, recorders, or other consumer electronic devices. You must explain why the specific device is a necessary component of the research project, e.g., an integrated camera in a prototype device.
  • Bulk supplies that will be used for other projects. These can be included, but their cost should be discounted to reflect the amount of supplies used by your project.
  • General books or software. If the book(s) or software are specifically necessary for the project and not available elsewhere on campus, i.e. in computer labs or the library, you may include a justification for the purchase in your proposal and it will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

  Purchase of Common Items

  Do not include the purchase of common items available on campus in your proposal. Please work with your advisor and/or department lab manager or technician to determine resources already available to you.

  • Standard lab supplies, e.g., chemical glassware and plasticware, and stockroom items.
  • Minor parts, e.g., screws, bolts, wires, and resistors.
  • Minor expenses, e.g., paper, pens, books, and phone calls.

• Proposal Requirements
  • 2-4 pages long, single spaced with appropriate citations and references.
  • A statement of the problem being investigated or goals of the project being undertaken, including prior relevant work in the field or relevant sources of inspiration for context.
  • Your research questions and tentative hypotheses, the anticipated final product of your project.
  • The research methodology, or design or creative methods and process that you are employing.
  • The reasons why the items listed in your budget are necessary for the success of your project and how they will be used.
  • The faculty committee that reviews SRG proposals includes faculty from all across the College, please write your proposal so that the main points can be understood by a general audience. Please avoid jargon and overly technical language.
  • If this is a group project: A personal contribution & impact statement, one for each group member and written by that group member. The statement should explain the distinct things that that group member is responsible for, what their expected contributions to the project will be, and what they expect to get out of doing this project.
• Budget Requirements
  • The budget must be formatted as a table and clearly organized.
  • The budget must include a detailed breakdown of anticipated expenses with a row for the table for each item or expense.
    • Supplies: Provide vendor names, product quotes, and shipping and handling costs, if applicable. If the item is reusable mark it as such and discount its cost by what your advisor or department has agreed to match.
    • Travel: Provide quotes for transport and lodging cost, and estimates of meals, fees and mileage costs.
    • Participant Payments: Describe the method by which participants will be paid, the rate of pay, the expected number of participants, and any fees associated with online research platforms.
  • The budget should appear on its own as the final page(s) of your proposal.
  • The budget should end with the total amount of money that you are requesting that matches the number you enter into your application.
  • If your budget is over $500 per student, describe where funds in excess of the amount you are requesting will be obtained.