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.

Amount & use
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.

Eligibility & Requirements
  • 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.

Deadlines
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
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.

Past recipients

2022-2023

Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology
Sayaka Kozuki
Ocean Sciences
Courtney Stratton

2021-2022

Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology
Tony Estrella
Elise Turkovich
Aisha Lakshman
Biomolecular Engineering
Joseph Cruz
Turvi Sharma
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Daniel Wruck
Cambell Conour
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Madeline Meek
Cara Munro
Jennifer Waldo
Earth & Planetary Sciences
Casey Vigilia
Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology
Alexander Newman
Lilianna Hammons
Michael Payne
Physics & Astrophysics
Austin Dymont
Fénix López
Keanu Graham

2020–2021

Biomolecular Engineering
Sruithi Shiram
Tobin Berger-Cahn
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Jami Clayton
Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology
Daniel Nguyen
Cami McKelvey
Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology
Ramin Poustinchi
Ocean Sciences
Miles Miller

2019–2020

Chemistry & Biochemistry
Tarabryn Grismer
Justin Sim
Jodi Lee
Ana Paula Kitos Vasoncelos
Kara Lo
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Jeannie Johnson
Earth & Planetary Sciences
Johanna Leslie King
Cosmo Varah-Sikes
Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology
Katrina Haas
Edward Wu
Alexander Bailess
Physics
Rafel Nunez
Emily Hoang
Caelum Rodriguez

2018–2019

Astronomy & Astrophysics
Erika Strasburger
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Alfred Freeberg
Ana Paula Kitos Vasoncelos
Earth & Planetary Sciences
Paul Colosi
Ocean Sciences
Destiny Gomez
Anthony Mazzini

2017–2018

Astronomy & Astrophysics
Marina Huang
Catherine Manea
Nick Omahen
Zafar Rustamkulov
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Carolin Wahl
Earth & Planetary Sciences
Emily Carreno
Thomas Dewey
Esther Muñoz
Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology
Kareem Bdeir
Shiron Drunsinsky
Edward Kim
Alexis Muñoz
Connie Silva
Radha Thakore
Megan Torgrimson
Nitin Vidyasagar
Robert Wilcox
Joey Wong
Brian Young
Physics
Raziq Noorai
How to Apply
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.