$40,000 in mini grants to be given
Noelle Myers
Issue date: 10/16/09 Section: News
10/16/09 - The University of Rhode Island's Graduate program is offering a total of $40,000 in mini grants to graduate students and up to $1,000 to each student for the first time.
Dean of the Graduate School Nasser Zawia said 75 percent of the money is contributed from the office of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Donald DeHayes and the other 25 percent from the office of the Vice President of Research and Economic Development Peter Alfonso.
Awarded graduate students are obligated to put the money towards something related to their education and graduate work, Zawia said. This includes traveling purposes when presenting at a national meeting, publishing costs or purchases of small pieces of equipment. They must also provide proof of this need, must have a faculty sponsor and must also submit progress reports about the project to the Graduate Research Grant Committee.
"[We're] flexible for what they can use [the money] for," Zawia said.
Zawia said graduate students have many needs and are not always paid attention to as much as undergraduates. They make up 20 percent of the student population and there are currently 3,000 students enrolled in graduate courses, he added.
According to the URI Web site, awarded graduate students will represent a wide variety of departments within the university.
Zawia hopes the process will be competitive and said potentially 40 to 80 students could be awarded for these grants.
Graduate students can apply for the mini-grant individually or within a group of up to three students, but group applications will only receive one project fund. The application submission deadline is November 13 and a committee will evaluate applications. The committee is made up of members from the Graduate Council, the Council for Research, and the Research Development Office. Final decisions will be made by December 15.
Applications are available on the URI Web site, all of which must be submitted electronically. Applicants should provide a cover page, completed application, proposal and a letter of recommendation from their faculty sponsor.
The letter of recommendation may not be confidential, and the faculty sponsor must provide their support for the graduate student's project and how they will assess it. If the student is awarded, the faculty sponsor must also review the student's final proposal and provide a short evaluation of the project.
Zawia said applications would be judged on how well the proposal is written, impact of the research or project and the funds for the work. According to the URI Web site, final decisions will also be based on originality, independence, initiative, clarity and feasibility of the proposal.
This is the first time these mini-grants are being offered to graduate students, and he hopes to offer them more often if they draw success.
"Whatever graduate students do contributes to the reputation at URI," Zawia said.
Dean of the Graduate School Nasser Zawia said 75 percent of the money is contributed from the office of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Donald DeHayes and the other 25 percent from the office of the Vice President of Research and Economic Development Peter Alfonso.
Awarded graduate students are obligated to put the money towards something related to their education and graduate work, Zawia said. This includes traveling purposes when presenting at a national meeting, publishing costs or purchases of small pieces of equipment. They must also provide proof of this need, must have a faculty sponsor and must also submit progress reports about the project to the Graduate Research Grant Committee.
"[We're] flexible for what they can use [the money] for," Zawia said.
Zawia said graduate students have many needs and are not always paid attention to as much as undergraduates. They make up 20 percent of the student population and there are currently 3,000 students enrolled in graduate courses, he added.
According to the URI Web site, awarded graduate students will represent a wide variety of departments within the university.
Zawia hopes the process will be competitive and said potentially 40 to 80 students could be awarded for these grants.
Graduate students can apply for the mini-grant individually or within a group of up to three students, but group applications will only receive one project fund. The application submission deadline is November 13 and a committee will evaluate applications. The committee is made up of members from the Graduate Council, the Council for Research, and the Research Development Office. Final decisions will be made by December 15.
Applications are available on the URI Web site, all of which must be submitted electronically. Applicants should provide a cover page, completed application, proposal and a letter of recommendation from their faculty sponsor.
The letter of recommendation may not be confidential, and the faculty sponsor must provide their support for the graduate student's project and how they will assess it. If the student is awarded, the faculty sponsor must also review the student's final proposal and provide a short evaluation of the project.
Zawia said applications would be judged on how well the proposal is written, impact of the research or project and the funds for the work. According to the URI Web site, final decisions will also be based on originality, independence, initiative, clarity and feasibility of the proposal.
This is the first time these mini-grants are being offered to graduate students, and he hopes to offer them more often if they draw success.
"Whatever graduate students do contributes to the reputation at URI," Zawia said.
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