SURF Program

Summer 2013 Deadline: May 1st, 2013

SURF Application (Word)

(College of Engineering & Applied Science faculty please click here)

The UWM Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) invites applications for semester, academic year, and summer Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF). Faculty and academic staff can apply for the awards to provide an hourly wage for undergraduate students working as research assistants. Students will be paid as hourly employees. (Please consult the Student Employment Administrative Manual for Supervisors when fixing pay rates here.)

This program is designed to foster faculty-student research collaborations, and, as such, we are particularly eager to fund work through which students have the opportunity to engage in thoughtful and progressively sophisticated work central to the overall research program of the principal investigator. Because the awards are part of larger efforts to foster a culture of faculty-undergraduate research collaboration at UWM, we are eager to see proposals engaging lower-division students and students who have been underrepresented in undergraduate research, including students of color, students with disabilities and, in some disciplines, women. Faculty members may prepare multiple applications if more than one student is to be engaged in the work. Students who have received support from the OUR in the past are not excluded from this funding. Proposals will be evaluated based on the funding priorities of the SURF initiative, which include providing resources for:

• Students
  • who have a strong record of commitment to research activity (typically, awardees have been involved in the research for credit or as a volunteer before seeking funding)
  • and who have a strong record of performance in research activity
    
    
• Research programs
  • that promote inclusive excellence
  • that provide progressively enhanced activities for undergraduates in faculty-led research
  • and that provide a pipeline for lower-division students
    
    
• Faculty, staff, and departments
  • with a demonstrated record of successfully promoting high quality research opportunities for undergraduates
  • and with a record of careful and efficient management of budgets and consistent reporting

Students should not apply for SURF awards if they are already receiving financial support through other OUR-funded programs. Please contact our office with any questions regarding a student's eligibility for this award.

Preparation of the Application. The SURF application includes a coversheet of information about the principal investigator and the student, followed by a two-page form for the faculty researcher and a one-page form for the student. The form has been prepared in Microsoft Word. The completed form should be saved as OUR_surf_facultylastname-studentlastname.doc (e.g. OUR_surf_Jones-Smith.doc) and emailed to Tamara Long (talong@uwm.edu), the Associate Advisor in the Office of Undergraduate Research. If you have questions about the form, please feel free to contact Ms. Long or Kyla Moore (kylam@uwm.edu), the Associate Director of the OUR. Paperwork for students receiving awards will be completed within the home departments of the faculty researchers; students must be eligible to work at UWM and, unless already employed by UWM, must undergo a criminal background check. Upon completion of the period of award, both the faculty member and the student will be required to prepare a brief report. It is also expected that the student would be prepared to present the work at the annual UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium at the end of the spring semester.

SURF Application (Word)
SURF Faculty Report (Word)
SURF Student Report (Word)