IBACS Undergraduate Awards

We are happy to announce the fourth year of the undergraduate research grant program that is being run by the Connecticut Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBACS).

 

Spring 2020

 

The application period for the spring research grant program opened Monday, February 3rd, 2020, and the deadline for applications will be 11:59 pm on Monday, February 17th, 2020.  The application process is being conducted in concert with the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR).  It is expected that applicants will be conducting research with IBACS faculty members, focusing on any research area associated with the IBACS mission.  Faculty sponsors will need to supply a letter of recommendation. Once the applicant lists the faculty advisor of the project in the form, an email will be sent to the faculty member with directions for how to submit the letter.  Applicants must fill out the online application, and also submit via the online application, a relatively short research plan (maximum of 6,000 characters, approximately 3 pages) and a budget that explains in detail how the funds will be spent. The application link is listed below. It is recommended that the student first compose the research plan and budget using a word processing program, and then upload the final versions on to the website.

 THIS PROGRAM IS NOT MEANT TO PROVIDE DIRECT FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO STUDENTS. Instead, it is meant to provide support for the research. The account will be set up with the faculty sponsor after the award is given. It is expected that there will be five awards during the Spring of 2020 of up to $1,000. The funding is meant to defray the research-related costs such as materials & supplies, minor equipment, software, animal or participant-related costs. The budget should reflect these expenditures.

Fall recipients cannot apply for the Spring grant, but a recipient of a Fall or Spring grant is eligible for the Summer research grant program, provided that they are still a UConn student at the time. 

 

IBACS Spring 2020 Application: https://quest.uconn.edu/prog/ibacs_spring2020/

 

 

 Summer 2020

 

The application period for the summer research grant program will open on Monday, February 17th, 2020, and the deadline for applications will be 11:59 pm on Friday, March 13th, 2020.  The application process is being conducted in concert with the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR).  It is expected that applicants will be conducting research with IBACS faculty members, focusing on any research area associated with the IBACS mission.  Faculty sponsors will need to supply a letter of recommendation. Once the applicant lists the faculty advisor of the project in the form, an email will be sent to the faculty member with directions for how to submit the letter. Applicants must fill out the online questionnaire (follow link below), and also submit on to the website a research plan (maximum of 8 pages, not including references; 12pt Times New Roman, 1” margins, double spaced) and a budget that explains in detail how the funds will be spent. 

The budget should be constructed in the following manner:  The total award will be for up to $5,000. $3,500 should go to providing the student with a summer stipend, and it is expected that the student will spend at least 10 weeks of the summer working on this project at UConn.  Up to $1,500 can be allocated for any supplies or materials that contribute to the research, including software, participant costs and any animal expenses.  It is recommended that the student first compose the research plan and budget using a word processing program, and then upload the final versions on to the website.

Students who received a Fall 2019 or Spring 2020 IBACS grant are eligible for the summer award. However, students cannot take the summer IBACS award in combination with any other major summer award (e.g. SURF). Thus, a student can apply for multiple awards, but can only accept one. The results of the grant review will be given to the student awardees in time for them to make a decision about which grant they will accept, in case they receive more than one. 

 

IBACS Summer 2020 Application: https://quest.uconn.edu/prog/ibacs_summer2020/