Biology Research and Opportunity Endowment
Award: Varying amounts, to be spent within the fiscal year of award
Nomination Deadline: Two application deadlines per year: Oct 16, Feb 21. If a deadline falls on a holiday or weekend, it will be extended by 2 days.
Submission Instructions:
- Proposal (maximum of 2 pages): A brief description of the research project or experiential learning opportunity including title, summary, research proposal/detailed description of opportunity, itemized budget, bibliography and any figures or tables — the proposal should be written for biologists, by the student, in consultation with the faculty advisor. Research proposals should be crafted around the student’s particular research question and describe experiments to be conducted, rather than primarily being a description of what goes on in the advisor’s lab. Where possible, an overview of the advisor’s research questions should be provided.
- Lay-abstract (maximum of 150 words): Abstract aimed at a general audience describing the project and how funds will be used. This abstract is for lay-persons and is NOT part of the 2-page proposal. It should NOT be the same as any summary provided in the 2-page research description because the abstract will be read by non-scientists such as donors or administrators, while the proposal description will be read by biologists. The lay-abstract should be written by the student in consultation with their faculty advisor.
- Letter (maximum 1 page): Letter of support from nominating faculty member.
- Compiling: The faculty advisor should create a single PDF document including the above items in the following order: (i) proposal, (ii) lay-abstract, (iii) advisor’s letter of support. The final document should be named as follows: Student Last Name-Advisor Last Name-Grant name-Semester.File type (e.g. Jones-Forsyth-BiologyRO-Spring2024.pdf). Please follow these instructions - although they are specific, they will make the job of the selection committee much more straightforward.
- Generating merged pdf files: If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, there are a number of free resources for generating merged pdf files on the web including pdfMaster and pdfFiller.
- Submitting: The final pdf file, formatted and titled as directed above, should be submitted via email to the current Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee.
- Proposals that do not adhere to the above formatting guidelines will not be reviewed.
- Proposals for other awards, should be submitted separately following guidelines listed in those awards.
Additional Guidelines:
- Application deadlines are as indicated above. Please follow instructions provided in the solicitation email sent to Biology instructors. The Feb 21 deadline includes applications for the summer. Please remember that all funds must be spent within this fiscal year—so plan ahead for summer work!
- All applications will be ranked by members of the USC.
- The amount of funds awarded to each proposal will depend on the amount of award money available each semester, and the number of awards made.
- Students who do not receive an award may resubmit revised proposals at the next deadline.
- Late, incomplete, and applications that do not meet the guidelines will not be reviewed.
- Students and their mentors are notified by email about the outcomes of the review, in a timely manner.
