The SCHC URF is designed to allow SCHC students in their third year to work with a mentor on a project in the mentor’s discipline area.  Ideally, the student and mentor work out a project idea together, but in most cases the student will be working on a topic the mentor outlines so that the student can learn about scholarship in that discipline area.  All mentors must be faculty on the Columbia campus of USC.  If a student wishes to change mentors once an award has been made, petition must be made to the SCHC directly and will be considered on a case by case basis.  In general, requests for change after a project has been started are not approved.

All research involving humans research subjects must be approved by the USC Institutional Review Board; the student’s names must be on the relevant protocol.  All
research involving vertebrate animals must have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocol with the student’s name on the protocol.

Travel Grants are intended to provide support for students going to meetings where they are presenting their work.  Applications will only be considered if the student is an author of, for example, a poster or paper/talk to be presented at a meeting.  The grant support can be used to cover the costs of travel to and from a conference, registration for the conference, and accommodation.  It is expected that the student will identify support for some portion of the costs from another source (e.g., the mentor, department, or OUR). Please note that food expenses cannot be covered.  Additonal cost requests will be considered as detailed in the budget on the application.
 
Applications MUST be submitted and approved before the trip so that a Travel Authorization can be completed by the SCHC before the trip. State law forbids retroactive Travel Authorizations.

Only SCHC students in good standing in the college may apply for this support.

Budget information: the Honors College will provide up to $500 to support legitimate travel expenses. In addition, the Honors College will match dollar for dollar up to an additional $500 contribution from another source (e.g the academic department, another travel grant, personal funds, etc.) for legitimate travel expenses.

In total then, the College will provide up to $1,000 with $500 coming from another source, for a total of $1,500.

Legitimate travel includes travel to professional meetings to present one's research. It can also include travel to support undergraduate research, in which case the detailed justification must be provided to support the claim that the travel is necessary and appropriate for the research being undertaken.

Finally, travel expenses can be used to support other educational needs. A justification for the educational value of the proposed travel must be provided. Legitimate expenses include the cost of travel (airfare, car mileage, etc.) and the cost of accommodation. Food may not be covered.

The Honors College has a small fund available to support extraordinary expenses associated with a student’s senior thesis/project.  The SCHC will provide a maximum grant of $1,500.00 for students to purchase needed materials for their senior thesis/project.  Such items can include, but are not limited to chemicals, rats, equipment, the rental of exhibit space, and travel expense.  Items purchased through a senior thesis/project grant becomes property of the Honors College, and we request that a student purchase items covered by the senior thesis/project grant through the Honors College. 

The Honors College cannot pay for items already purchased, nor for the typing or copying of a thesis or project paper, for photo duplication, or for purchasing books, periodicals, meals or routine supplies (e.g., computer or printer ribbons, computer or typing paper, notebooks, etc.).

To apply for a senior thesis/project grant a student will need to submit an application form, which can be downloaded from the SCHC website, and an itemized budget proposal with a written proposal explaining the thesis or project the you intends to pursue.  When writing the itemized budget, it is to the applicant’s advantage to give a brief explanation of why he or she needs the items in the budget.  It is also helpful to include an itemized account of what has already spent for the thesis or project.