Purpose:
The purpose of these awards is to provide seed money to graduate students for pilot research, archival work or travel, or other research-related costs that increases the quality of the work and supports a plan for future external grant or fellowship applications. These awards do not cover equipment or substitute for resources normally available to students [e.g., software on computers in student labs].
Requirements:
a. The student must identify in the application a source for external funding (through grants or fellowships) that would be appropriate for a programmatic pursuit of work related to the proposed project. An application to that source is not required but should be considered if appropriate when planning the thesis or dissertation work.
b. The student must attend a grant-writing workshop. If the student has already attended such a workshop, please indicate this in the application for the award. If the student has not attended a workshop, please provide a plan of action for such attendance in the CAS Research Award proposal. The workshop may be a Penn State workshop, an NCA workshop, or other as identified by the student to the review committee.
c. This money is not intended to support a thesis or dissertation directly. It may be used to support a pilot project for the future thesis or dissertation.
d. Funding awards may vary, both in number and financial amount, but will not exceed $1,500 for the ‘06-‘07 academic year. Applicants may request funding to support travel to archives or research sites, to purchase software that is not available to students to access on campus, to pay participants, to pay undergraduate assistants, or other expenses related to the proposed research project. This may not include release time or salary requests for the student. In all cases, the budgetary request must be clear and explicit. Proposals that request more than $1,500 will not be reviewed.
Application Format
1. The application cannot exceed three single-spaced pages of text (11-point font, 1 inch margins) and must note the specific external grant or fellowship to be targeted for future submission (with specific call # if relevant). Outside the three page maximum, applicants must include a detailed timeline, a budget, and an updated vita.
2. Applications must include a completed CAS Research Application form.
3. All applications must also include a letter of support from the applicant's advisor.
Previous Award Winner Project Abstracts
