Funding for Student Research

There's also the opportunity for public recognition and monetary awards.

• The UO Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Awards recognize students who demonstrate extraordinary skill and creativity in the application of library and information resources to research and scholarship. Granted annually, the awards typically range from $1,000 to $1,500. Recent award winners have included individual students as well as collaborative teams, most of them from College of Arts and Sciences departments, including environmental studies, history and women’s and gender studies.

• The UO Center on Teaching and Learning grants three Undergraduate Research Fellowships per year, providing a full-tuition waiver to promising scholars. Many of the recipients have been science students in the College of Arts and Sciences, but this year an English major was one of the three outstanding undergraduates to receive this prestigious fellowship.

• For low-income and first-generation students, or those from a group that is underrepresented in graduate education, the McNair Scholars Program is designed to propel motivated students toward earning doctoral-level degrees. The program’s many support services include tuition support plus a $2,800 summer research stipend. (Read about McNair Scholar Lidi Soto.)

• Students in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—can receive a full scholarship and be employed upon degree completion at a Department of Defense research facility, under the Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program. Scholarships include a cash stipend of up to $38,000 a year, full tuition, required fees, health insurance contribution and book allowance.

• The UO Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR—see Cascade story) provides fellowship opportunities for undergraduate students from the UO and other institutions to participate in ongoing research in life sciences laboratories at the UO during the summer months. SPUR provides student stipends and can also cover travel costs, as well as room and board for students visiting from other universities.