UMass Boston

Annual Research Grant Competition for Undergraduate Students

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is pleased to call for applications for its Academic Year 2023-2024 Annual Research Grant Competition for Undergraduate Students. These funds assist UMass Boston undergraduate students with expenses that they may incur while conducting research or working on a creative project. The application deadline is Monday, November 20, 2023, by 5 p.m. Only completed applications will be accepted. Grant awards will be announced by the end of finals week of the Fall 2023 semester.

Application Process: Submit as PDF files the following three documents to undergradresearch@umb.edu:

• The completed application form – which includes a ~150 word proposal and a detailed budget (see section on “Award Amounts” below)
• A copy of the student's transcript (an unofficial transcript is acceptable)
• A recommendation letter from the student's faculty sponsor (the mentor for the research project for which you are applying for funds) emailed directly to undergradresearch@umb.edu (faculty sponsors, please take special note of the "Eligibility" and "Allowable Uses" sections defined below)
• The Application Form and Detailed Instructions for completing and submitting the application are available by clicking on the appropriate link directly below.

The Application Form and Detailed Instructions for completing and submitting the application are available by clicking on the appropriate link directly below.

Application Form

Detailed Instructions

​Eligibility: Students from all undergraduate colleges with 60 or more credits are eligible. Students are ordinarily expected to have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Graduating seniors can apply, but they must submit receipts prior to their official graduation date.

Award Amounts: Funding is limited. Grants are typically in the $500-$1500 range. In exceptional circumstances, grant requests totaling up to $2000 (materials and conferences in total) may be considered.

Allowable Uses of Funds:  Categories of need for which funds may be sought include, but are not limited to: purchase of books for research, purchase of materials for experiments, payments to human subjects, Xeroxing, equipment, travel to archives, libraries, or other research sites, and travel to present research results at national and regional conferences.  Be sure to explain why books must be purchased rather than borrowed from libraries. Explain why materials for experiments are not normally stocked by the laboratory.

Distribution of Funds: Funds must be distributed no later than your graduation date (if you are a graduating senior) or by June 30, 2024 (if you are not a graduating senior). Funds will be distributed in different ways, depending on the expense: 

For conferences or purchases the student makes directly, funds will be distributed by reimbursing the student for the costs incurred. Funds will not be issued to the student until the expenses are incurred (e.g., for a conference, once the trip is completed). Receipts (or other similar documentation, if applicable) will be required for reimbursement. 

Funds cannot be transferred to programs or departments. For items that cannot be procured by individuals (i.e. chemicals, and other lab related supplies), please have your program or department contact the Office of the Vice Provost for Research – Paul M. Mullane, Director for Financial Management for Research and Graduate Studies at paul.mullane@umb.edu to obtain accounting information. Only after obtaining accounting information can the program or department create the requisition for procurement.

Presentations at Conferences: If you are planning to present your work at a conference, you are eligible to apply for funds to travel to that conference. You should apply for funding now, even if you don’t know whether you will be accepted by the conference(s) to present. On the application, you will be asked to estimate the costs of attending. Keep in mind that your travel support will only be funded if your paper/ poster is accepted for presentation and only lodging, transportation and registration costs will be considered. (Funding for “per diems” for food will not be considered).  Please note that costs to cover travel to the annual MA Statewide Research Conference in Amherst are provided to interested students through another process, and should not be included here.

Travel Registration Requirements: https://www.umb.edu/controller

Decision making process and notification: All funding decisions are made by the Undergraduate Research Committee, which is a faculty committee. Students and/or sponsors may be contacted by the committee if more information is needed during the process. Students will be notified of the committee’s decision by email. Decisions will be announced by the end of finals week of the Fall 2023 semester.