About Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF)

The Office of Undergraduate Research awards about 5 fellowships each year to students interested in pursuing their research or creative activity efforts. The fellowships are distributed among the three schools (Business, HSS, & SET) based upon the number of proposals received from each school. Proposals from all academic disciplines are welcome and strongly encouraged.

The application form is downloadable from the links at left. In addition to the proposal, which must conform to strict rules of format, such as length, spacing and font size, students must submit an official transcript and obtain two letters of recommendation.

The fellowships provide funds for undergraduate students to participate with faculty mentors in an eight-week intensive scholarly activity. Each fellowship will provide a $2500 student stipend and a $1000 faculty stipend. An additional $500 may be requested to purchase supplies and/or to support the student's project. The student stipends are paid in three installments. The summer 2013 first installment will be made in early June, 2013, contingent upon attendance to an introductory meeting for students and faculty mentors on May 27, 2013. The second installment will be made after the completion of an interim report due on July 1, 2013. The program extends until July 26; the final installment of the student stipend as well as the faculty stipend will be paid after the submission of a final report and survey (deadline: August 5, 2013).

Eligibility Requirements

1. Only one proposal per faculty mentor will be accepted.
2. Student must be a sophomore, junior, or a senior graduating in the May 2014 graduation ceremony.
3. Both student and faculty mentor must be available in San Antonio during most of the program.
4. Awards are contingent upon IRB approval for use of human subjects and/or IACUC approval for use of vertebrate animals in proposed research projects. Page 3 of the application consists of a form which will testify that you have carefully considered whether you require IRB or IACUC approval. This document should accompany your application. Projects which require IRB or IACUC approval but have not submitted this form or have not begun to apply for IRB approval will not be considered.

Expectations

1. Mandatory attendance at an orientation meeting on May 27, at which time each fellowship recipient will give a brief presentation (~10 minutes) describing their proposed scholarly activity.
2. Completion of an interim report on July 1, 2013. The second installment of the student stipend will be made available after this report is submitted and approved.
3. Completion of a final report (approximately 2-3 pages including a digital picture of the student) by August 5, 2013. Guidelines for this final report will be provided to students and faculty mentors during the orientation meeting in June. Additional work (e.g., manuscripts) may be expected from your mentor.
4. Mandatory participation in the Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium and Creative Activities Exhibition (March or April, 2014).
5. Mandatory participation in the 2013-2014 Jose Miguel Cimadevilla Memorial Seminar series, including attendance at the seminars of all the fellows in the program.
6. Mandatory participation in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program poster event at Trinity University in late July 2013 (exact date TBD).

Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria will be used by internal reviewers (St. Mary's University faculty) to evaluate your proposal based on a 100-point scoring system. The numbers in the parentheses represent the maximum points attainable for that particular section.

1. Research Project/Creative Activity Criteria
   1. clarity of project/creative activity description including goals and anticipated outcomes (20 points)
   2. appropriateness of the approach and/or methods utilized to achieve goals (10 points)
   3. likelihood of achieving a successful outcome (e.g., manuscript, presentation, etc.) and/or the possibility of acquiring additional funding from project/activity outcomes (10 points)
2. Student Criteria
   1. overall academic performance (provide copy of official transcript) (10 points)
   2. student preparation (relevant academic and/or extracurricular experience and achievements) (10 points)
   3. two recommendation letters (one from faculty mentor & one from another faculty familiar with student (10 points)
3. Faculty Criteria
   1. mentoring plan (20 points)
   2. professional accomplishments including any previous mentoring of undergraduates (10 points)