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Faculty Grant Program

Faculty grant program now available to scale undergraduate research!

The mission of the Office of Undergraduate Research is to foster an undergraduate research community that promotes, enhances, and expands undergraduate research opportunities for all students at Virginia Tech. Our vision is to provide undergraduate research opportunities for all students, in all fields of study, beginning their first year through a capstone experience.

The goals of the Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant Program are to:

  1. Increase student access to genuine undergraduate research opportunities, and
  2. To widen the breadth of opportunities and participation across majors.

2023-24 Application Details

Application Deadline: November 1, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.

The Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant Program will provide a handful of grants of up to $10,000 to individual faculty, teams of faculty, or departments, to facilitate the development or support of novel programs that aim to scale and increase access to undergraduate research opportunities for VT students.

Here is the list of items you will need to complete your proposal. You are encouraged to compose your responses in a word processor and then copy and paste them into the form. You will be able to access and edit your proposal up until the deadline.

Proposal

(Brief responses preferable)

  1. Proposal title.
  2. Short overview of the proposed work (2-3 sentences).
  3. Description of how the proposed work aligns with the goals of the Undergraduate Research Faculty grant program (i.e. how will the proposed project activity scale or increase access to undergraduate research?).
  4. Description of the structure of the proposed project activity. Please be as specific as possible.
  5. Explanation of how the project activity differs from existing programs.
  6. Explanation of why new resources are needed to support the development or delivery of this program, course, or activity and description of any existing resources that will be leveraged.
  7. Description of the particular students and number anticipated to engage in the activity (majors and academic rank) and why this group was selected for the proposed program.
  8. Description of current and prior experience engaging and mentoring undergraduates in research for each member of the application team.
  9. Description of anticipated students gains from engaging in the activity.

Budget

Provide an itemized budget listing relevant expenses in the categories of Personnel (please note that these funds cannot be used for undergraduate fellowships; however, it is possible to use the funds for student hourly wages), Equipment/supplies, and Travel/professional development.

You will also need to provide the name and email address of your business manager, who would handle the transfer of funds should you be awarded an Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant.

Letter of Support

Upload a brief letter of support (Word or PDF format) signed by your Department Head, College Dean, or Institute Director that includes:

  • a commitment to supporting the applicants' time and efforts to complete this work
  • a commitment to offer the activity upon completion of the work, if possible

A proposal missing a letter of support will be deemed incomplete. Please note that although you can edit your proposal until November 1, you can only upload documents (i.e. letter(s) of support) on your FINAL submission.

Note: You will be able to edit your entries until the deadline by accessing the application form using the link you will be provided upon submission.

Please email Keri Swaby with any questions.

Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant Awardees

In Fall 2023, seven projects were selected for funding of up to $10,000 each as part of the Undergraduate Research Faculty grant program aimed at facilitating the development and support of novel programs to scale and increase access to undergraduate research for VT students. Grantees were selected based on the programs' anticipated impact to significantly scale or increase access to authentic research experiences and program sustainability:

  • Kereshmeh Afsari, Ph.D. (Myers-Lawson School of Construction)- proof of concept pilot to provide student access to multi-disciplinary undergraduate research opportunities in construction robotics.
  • Amy Allen, Ph.D. (School of Education)- pilot to provide a foundation for undergraduate research opportunities for students in the Elementary Education program or the History and Social Science Education program.
  • Rosanna Breaux, Ph.D., Heather Davis, Ph.D., & Samantha Margherio, Ph.D. (Psychology)- project to develop an asynchronous, self-paced online course to train undergraduate students to conduct qualitative research, transcribe qualitative interviews, and conduct thematic coding in preparation for engagement in qualitative research projects.
  • Gretchen Matthews, Ph.D., Eduardo Camps, Ph.D., Giuseppe Cotardo, Ph.D., Hiram Lopez, Ph.D., Emily McMillon, Ph.D., Pedro Soto, Ph.D., and Eric Ufferman, Ph.D. (Mathematics)- program structure to increase access to undergraduate research in mathematics and adjacent areas via inclusive research teams.
  • Cora Olson, Ph.D. Rebecca Hester, Ph.D., Ashley Shew, Ph.D., John Aggrey, Ph.D., & Christine Labuski, Ph.D. (Science and Technology Studies)- pilot a Medicine & Society Laboratory to connect students with Medicine & Society faculty members through faculty-initiated research projects.
  • Jonathan Watkinson, Ph.D. (Biological Sciences)- develop a course-based approach to explore orchid-fungal interactions that will provide students with diverse skills in biological research and establish a research stream for future research projects.
  • Clay Wright, Ph.D. (Biological Systems Engineering) & Jonathan Watkinson, Ph.D. (Biological Sciences) - develop two independent sets of research projects that will scale in a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in the field of Engineering Biology that is open to students from any major.

The operational period for the grants is January 2024 through June 2024.

In Fall 2022, five projects were selected for funding as part of the Undergraduate Research Faculty grant program aimed at facilitating the development or support of novel programs to scale and increase access to undergraduate research for Virginia Tech students. Grantees were selected based on the programs' anticipated impact to significantly scale or increase access to authentic research experiences and program sustainability:

  • Siobhan M. Craige, Ph.D. and Adele Addington, Ph.D. (HNFE)- $10,000 to establish a summer training and preparation program in basic science research and create a student-led training paradigm to scale up undergraduate research lab experience.
  • Andrew Ellis, Ph.D.; Craig Ramseyer, Ph.D.; Stephanie Zick, Ph.D.; David Carroll, Ph.D.; and Robert Oliver, Ph.D. (Geography)- $10,000 to integrate meteorology undergraduate researchers with practitioners through the Virginia Atmospheric Science Exchange (VASE).
  • Dr. Andre Muelenaer, Jr, MD, MS; Penelope A Muelenaer, MD, MPH; Eli Vlaisavljevich, Ph.D.; John Robertson, VMD,  Ph.D.; Anne Staples, Ph.D. (BEAM)- $10,000 to support students to conduct transdisciplinary research in collaboration with their peers at Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST).
  • Jennifer Rainville, Ph.D.; Aparna Shah, Ph.D.; and Kristin Phillips, Ph.D. (School of Neuroscience)- $10,000 to create a lab skills certificate program that will include a repository of training materials and videos which complement hands-on training and practice of specific neuroscience lab techniques.
  • Hannah Sunderman, Ph.D.; Donna Westfall-Rudd, Ph.D.; and Tiffany Drape, Ph.D. (ALCE)- $9,977 to increasing access to undergraduate research in agricultural, leadership, and community education through curricular and co-curricular opportunities.

The operational period for the grants is January 2023 through June 2023.

In Fall 2021, six projects were selected for funding as part of the Undergraduate Research Faculty grant program aimed at facilitating the development or support of novel programs to scale and increase access to undergraduate research for VT students. Grantees were selected based on the programs' anticipated impact to significantly scale or increase access to authentic research experiences and program sustainability:

  • Benjamin Chambers, Ph.D. (Engineering Education)- $9,607 to developing a program for early academic career research opportunities in engineering using Minecraft. Dr. Chambers received special mention during the last grant cycle.
  • Natalie Ferand, Ph.D. (School of Education)- $7,317 to provide foundational undergraduate research opportunities for students in Career ad Technical Education in conjunction with the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education.
  • Kevin Hamed, Ph.D. (Fish and Wildlife Conservation) and Robert Bush, Ph.D. (Sustainable Biomaterials)- $7,337 to engage more than 30 students majoring in Wildlife Conservation and Packaging Systems & Design in a collaborative research project to design bottle modifications that would allow shrews in the wild to escape safely.
  • Najla Mouchrek, Ph.D. (Honors College), Nathan Todd King & Emily Jean Vollmer (VT Office of Sustainability)- $5,570 to support the development of the Honors Culture of Sustainability Lab, a campus living laboratory and a space for Honors undergraduate students to engage in interdisciplinary research exploring cultural and social aspects of sustainability, which will be designed as a course-based undergraduate research experience.
  • Frederick Paige, Ph.D. (Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Craig Arthur (University Libraries)- $10,000 for their project entitled “Engaged Scholar Training: Sustaining a Culture of Research in Service of Communities”, to scale up research training materials to be accessible to a broader audience.
  • Andy Schaudt, MBA (VTTI; Management)- $10,000 to pilot a new program that will allow undergraduate students from the Pamplin College of Business to apply the skills learned in business management coursework to VTTI research projects.

The operational period for the grants is November 2021 through June 2022.

In Spring 2021, five projects were funded as part of a scaled down Undergraduate Research Faculty grant program specifically aimed at facilitating the development or support of novel programs to scale undergraduate research for VT students through virtual/remote means. Grantees were selected based on the programs' anticipated scaling of and access to authentic research experiences, program sustainability, and the incorporation of remote or virtual research methods or modality:

  • Pablo Sobrado, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) - $3,500 to pilot a new program entitled "Enzyme Engineering" to train students in several aspects of protein engineering and working as part of a research group.
  • Rosanna Breaux, Ph.D., Thomas Ollendick, Ph.D., and Tyler McFayden, Ph.D. (Psychology) - $3,300 to support the project entitled " Training the Next Generation: An Undergraduate Research Opportunity for Future Clinicians", to develope training videos and scoring syntax to support undergraduate students completing research training to conduct behavioral observation coding and obtain research reliability for a commonly used diagnostic interview.
  • Gillian Eastwood, Ph.D. and Alexandra Cumbie, Ph.D. (Entomology) - $3,500 to pilot a remote research project entitled "Spring Tick Species Diversity and Prevalence", in which undergraduates engage in fieldwork to collect specimens in their local area, submit ticks to the lab for pathogen testing, shadow lab techniques virtually and conduct data analysis.
  • Christopher Arena, Ph.D. and Andre Muelenaer, MD (Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics) - $3,500 to establish a collaboration between Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics (BEAM) at Virginia Tech and Carilion Innovations - Carilion Clinic’s hub for discoveries targeted at improving patient care. Engineering students would work alongside healthcare professionals to support the development of new technologies in the early stages of conceptualization. Project title: "Virginia Tech - Carilion Innovation Internship".
  • Andrew Lowell, Ph.D. (Chemistry) and Anne M. Brown, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) - $3,500 to increase undergraduate research opportunities through collaboration between in-person and remote/virtual research teams. By establishing options for computational researchers to gain wet lab experience and vice-versa in the life and physical sciences, we can strengthen interdisciplinary training and enhance opportunities for the next generation of researchers. Project title: "Integrating Computational and Wet-Lab Research Techniques into a Comprehensive, Flexible Research Training Environment."

Special mention

  • Cindy Smith, Ph.D. (Human Development): "Understanding parent-child interaction through virtual data collection and remote coding"
  • Benjamin Chambers, Ph.D. (Engineering Education): "Developing a program for early academic career research opportunities in engineering using Minecraft"

The operational period for the grants was April through June, 2021

In Spring 2020, seven projects were funded as part of the Undergraduate Research Faculty Grant Program based on programs' anticipated scaling of and access to authentic research experiences as well as program sustainability:

  • James Jewitt, SOVA- $6,700 to support student research in Washington D.C. for capstone projects in the Pathways Visual Arts Minor.
  • John P Gannon II, FREC- $10,000 to create a stream monitoring station in partnership with the town of Blacksburg to facilitate independent and course-based undergraduate research experiences.
  • Debby Good and Angela Anderson, HNFE- $4225 to further develop a CURE in Genotype/Phenotype Analysis with students in Metabolic Nutrition, potentially exposing 750 HNFE undergraduates to authentic research projects and results/data.
  • Kereshmeh Afsari, Myers-Lawson School of Construction- $10,000 to establish student access to undergraduate research opportunities in construction robotics.
  • E. Scott Geller, Psychology- $9,981 to develop, deliver and evaluate a new interdependent Course-embedded Undergraduate Research Experience in applied behavioral science (ABS) and positive psychology by student-led research projects examining situational determinants of gratitude expression and assessing its influence on subjective well-being (SWB).
  • John Chermak, Geosciences- $9,500 to redesign and pilot a traditionally lecture-based Environmental Geosciences course to include a data compilation, collection, and interpretation research project which will allow the diverse student base to get access to an undergraduate research experience.
  • Alan Michaels, Hume Center- $10,000 to expand /bridge the Center's research offerings to include non-STEM students in multi-disciplinary teams working on a project involving Use and Abuse of Personal Information.

The operational period for the grants was January through June, 2020.

In 2019, six projects were funded from a pool of 29 diverse proposals, based on programs' anticipated scaling of and access to authentic research experiences as well as program sustainability:

  • Susan Whitehead, Biological Sciences- $15,000 to develop a new CURE in field ecology that centers on student-designed independent research projects. Over the course of a semester, students explore natural history, design their own projects, collect ecological data at local field sites, conduct statistical analyses, write a manuscript, and participate in peer reviews.
  • Abby Walker and Katie Carmichael, English- $15,000 to upscale independent research in Linguistics through a capstone course. Office of General Education shared support for this project as it is part of a Pathways Minor, in the amount of $10,000.
  • Debby Good and Angela Anderson, HNFE- $12,300 to offer a CURE in Genotype/Phenotype Analysis with students in Metabolic Nutrition, potentially exposing 750 HNFE undergraduates to authentic research projects and results/data.
  • Joseph Merola and Diego Troya, Chemistry- $13,000 to develop a scaffolded/tiered portal for undergraduate research experiences in the Molecular Sciences, with students beginning research early - in their first year.
  • Carrie Kroehler and Patrician Raun, Ctr for Communicating Science- $14,000 for development and delivery of a pilot communicating science course for undergraduate students, which was piloted with summer undergraduate student researchers.
  • Anne Brown, Jonathan Briganti, Andrea Ogier, Nathaniel Porter, University Libraries- $7,000 to support a new program being proposed and piloted, DataBridge: An Interdisciplinary, Data-Centric Experiential Program for Undergraduate Students, which aims to provide experiences for student consultants to assist in data-driven research, instruction, and utilization stemming from clients
    across the Virginia Tech community.

The operational period for the grants was January through June, 2019.