2023-2024 call for applications
The Undergraduate Research in Science & Technology Endowment, funded by generous donors and alumni, supports undergraduate research projects in fields related to science and technology for students from any major at UC Santa Cruz.
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.
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.
2022-2023
Sayaka Kozuki
Courtney Stratton
2021-2022
Tony Estrella
Elise Turkovich
Aisha Lakshman
Joseph Cruz
Turvi Sharma
Daniel Wruck
Cambell Conour
Madeline Meek
Cara Munro
Jennifer Waldo
Casey Vigilia
Alexander Newman
Lilianna Hammons
Michael Payne
Austin Dymont
Fénix López
Keanu Graham
2020–2021
Sruithi Shiram
Tobin Berger-Cahn
Jami Clayton
Daniel Nguyen
Cami McKelvey
Ramin Poustinchi
Miles Miller
2019–2020
Tarabryn Grismer
Justin Sim
Jodi Lee
Ana Paula Kitos Vasoncelos
Kara Lo
Jeannie Johnson
Johanna Leslie King
Cosmo Varah-Sikes
Katrina Haas
Edward Wu
Alexander Bailess
Rafel Nunez
Emily Hoang
Caelum Rodriguez
2018–2019
Erika Strasburger
Alfred Freeberg
Ana Paula Kitos Vasoncelos
Paul Colosi
Destiny Gomez
Anthony Mazzini
2017–2018
Marina Huang
Catherine Manea
Nick Omahen
Zafar Rustamkulov
Carolin Wahl
Emily Carreno
Thomas Dewey
Esther Muñoz
Kareem Bdeir
Shiron Drunsinsky
Edward Kim
Alexis Muñoz
Connie Silva
Radha Thakore
Megan Torgrimson
Nitin Vidyasagar
Robert Wilcox
Joey Wong
Brian Young
Raziq Noorai