*Undergraduate Research in Science & Technology Awards (URST)*

Award amount: $4,500–6,000 per proposal; multiple awards given

General funds: Each awardee will receive an amount of $4,500 to go towards tuition, living expenses, or research related costs at the students’ discretion.

• Please note: while this is intended as a summer research award, students may defer their projects until fall quarter if desired. If you receive a summer award and are not enrolled in summer classes, the amount of $4000 will be paid to you through direct-pay. If you defer to fall quarter or are enrolled in summer classes, this amount will instead be applied to your student account, which may impact financial aid. Please discuss specific questions regarding this with the financial aid office directly.

Additional Research funds: $1500 in additional funds may be requested to cover costs associated with conducting research or presenting research results, such as lab fees, supplies, equipment expenses, travel associated with fieldwork, and costs associated with presenting research at conferences. This budget should be created in consultation with your faculty sponsor, and if granted, will be deposited into the faculty sponsor’s research account. These additional funds must be used or returned within one year of being dispersed.

Awards will be announced per the schedule below, with actual funding provided in the quarter when you begin the project, as confirmed by your faculty advisor.

• Any undergraduate from any department who is registered and enrolled at UC Santa Cruz, in good academic standing, and will not graduate before the project is completed can apply
• You must propose a research project relating to science or technology
• You must have a faculty mentor for your research project

This award is one of several science division summer research awards. You can view each of these research awards and their various eligibility criteria here.

If you have questions, please contact the awards manager at sciawards@ucsc.edu.

Please find complete application instructions below.

**All award recipients will be required to provide a handwritten or typed thank-you note and complete a questionnaire for donor stewardship purposes and may be asked to participate in other recognition events. If for any reason you would be unable to participate in the recognition activities outlined above, we will work with you on an alternative.

The 2023-2024 awards cycle has ended. Applications for AY 24/25 will be posted in early November, and the application deadline will be set in early spring 2025 (typically late February.)

Selection criteria: Proposals will be evaluated based on the quality and strength of the written research proposal, the feasibility of the project, the budget request, and the quality of the faculty recommendation.

Selection process: The Physical and Biological Sciences Undergraduate Award Committee, composed of faculty in the Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, will review the application materials, rank each proposal, and select recipients.

The research awards application will be posted in early November, 2024. Until then, please review the information under “selection criteria” and begin connecting with faculty labs that could oversee your research project.