The Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (RSCA) office offers the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) grant. This competitive grant supports faculty-mentored undergraduate student scholarship during an 8-week summer period.
These competitive grants are open to all full-time faculty. The project can be a particular aspect of the faculty’s scholarship, or it can be more student-driven. Regardless, the project should create new knowledge or works in ways commensurate with practices in the discipline. The project should also extend students’ learning and intellectual development beyond what is possible in the classroom. Successful grant applications must clearly connect funding requests to those student outcomes.
Anticipated SURE Program Funding*
- Funding of up to $1,000 for supplies, participant payments, etc. to carry out the project.
- A stipend of approximately $3,400 (hourly rate) to the student.
- A stipend of $1,200 to the faculty mentor.
- SURE awardees are eligible to later apply for travel funds to present their work at a conference, pending campus/state permission to travel. Students are eligible for up to $1000 in travel support, and faculty mentors for up to $600.
*Funding is estimated based on past years but could change after the 2021 SUNY budget is announced in mid-Spring.
Supplemental Funding for First-Year Students
SURE grants are typically awarded only to advanced students, due to the level of experience required to conduct a SURE project. Yet we also wish to also provide opportunities to less advanced students. Participating in a project may position them to develop a fruitful long-term collaboration with the faculty mentor or prepare them for later grant opportunities.
Therefore, we offer a supplemental SURE award to a rising sophomore who works on the project with the faculty mentor and upperclass SURE student. This supplemental SURE award provides up to $3,400 stipend (hourly rate) for 300 hours of work, and an additional $300 stipend to the mentor. The award is not a stand-alone award; it must be associated with a funded SURE project. See the application below for details and expectations.
SURE 2021 Application Materials
- SURE 2021 Call for Proposals (Word). Deadline: Monday, April 5, 2021.
- SURE Supplemental Award for First-Year Students (Word)
- SURE proposal evaluation sheet (pdf)
Samples of Prior Proposals (pdfs)
*These samples use discontinued proposal forms. None should be viewed as a flawless model to imitate. Rather, they should be viewed as good models for clarity in particular.
SURE 2020 Award Winners
To learn more about their projects, please visit the 2020 SURE Symposium.
Hanaa Ahmed, Biology (Chemistry & Disaster Studies), ‘22
Mentor: Maureen Morrow, Biology
Characterization of a Soil Bacterium Subject to Warming Conditions
Hollie Burton, Geography (environmental concentration), ‘21
Mentor: Melissa Yang Rock, Geography
Newburgh Water Contamination: Risk and Uncertainty over PFOS Exposure
Kieran Cavanagh, Mechanical Engineering/Mathematics, ‘21
Mentor: Ping-Chuan Wang, Mechanical Engineering
Modeling of Electromigration Process in Al(Cu) IC Interconnect
Nicole Elyukin, Psychology (Spanish), ‘20
Mentor: Tabitha R. Holmes, Psychology
Self-Presentation on Finsta vs. Insta
Lissa Elzey, Biology - Organismal, ‘22
Mentor: David Richardson, Biology
Ecosystem changes in an acidic lake on the Shawangunk Ridge
Brett Hanson, Mechanical Engineering (Applied Math), ‘22
Mentor: Rachmadian Wulandana, Mechanical Engineering
Flow Characteristics of Turbines in Tandem – A Computer Model Study
Ryan Mansell, Biology & Biochemistry, ‘21
Mentor: Lydia Bright, Biology
Computational Analysis of Proteins Involved in Holospora in Infection of Paramecium Cells
Caitlin McGetrick, English & Graphic Design, ‘23
Mentor: Amy Papelias, Art
Girl Culture: The Typography of Teen Magazines
Honor Montmarquet, Sociology & Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies, ‘21
Mentor: Karl Bryant, Sociology and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Trans and Nonbinary College Students’ Experiences of Housing Insecurity
Adam Mulla, Adolescence Ed. Physics, ‘21
Mentor: Catherine Herne, Physics & Astronomy
Analysis of Calcite Rotational Motion
Sarah Pallone, Psychology, ‘21
Mentor: Corwin Senko, Psychology
A Meta-Analysis of Achievement Goal Experiments
Liam Salisbury, Geography (planning concentration), ‘21
Mentor: Melissa Yank Rock, Geography
Newburgh Water Contamination: Risk and Uncertainty over PFOS Exposure
Aksa Sam, Physics & Astronomy, ‘23
Mentor: Catherine Herne, Physics & Astronomy
Analysis of Calcite Rotational Motion
Allison Seyler, Geology & Spanish, ‘21
Mentor: Gordana Garapic, Geology
Rift Initiation in Fertile Mantle Lithosphere
Christina Signoretti, Biochemistry (Music), ‘20
Mentor: Dominic McBrayer, Chemistry
Prediction of peptide electron ionization mass spec. "fingerprints"
Nathaniel Swartz, Geography, ’21
Mentor: Huicheng Chien, Geography
Analyzing Spatiotemporal Development of COVID-19 in New York State
Ian Silverstein, Visual Arts, ‘21
Mentor: Keely Heuer, Art History
Documenting Desire: Archaeological Evidence of Pederasty in Ancient Italy
Cara Whitehorne, Art History, ‘21
Mentor: Keely Heuer, Art History
Representation Matters: Non-Royal Women in Ancient Egyptian Art
Cassandra Williams, Mathematics/Computer Science, ‘21
Mentor: Anca Radulescu, Mathematics
Using data-driven dynamic networks to model the course of the COVID 19 outbreak
