The purpose of the Science Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) Program is to encourage Honors College students to work with a mentor from the science, engineering, or mathematics fields on a joint project in the mentor's discipline area.
The student should have active and substantial intellectual input to the direction and focus of the project. Ideally, the student's contributions would be sufficient enough to warrant co-authorship on any resulting publications and frequently students do become co-authors on published work.
Please review SURF research from previous students:
Faculty mentors are expected to be permanent full-time faculty on the Columbia campus of USC or the Medical School. If you wish to be mentored by an appropriately credentialed person who is not a USC faculty member, please contact Dr. Alexander in the Honors College. If a student wishes to change mentors once an award has been made, petition must be made to the Honors College directly and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
There are multiple ways to find a mentor. You may strike up an interest in the work of a professor from whom you take a class. You can search using keywords in Office of Undergraduate Research database of faculty research interests. Students are also encouraged to explore on a faculty member's departmental webpage. Reading a research paper written by a faculty member is an excellent way to determine if you are interested in that research area. It also gives you a high degree of credibility and demonstrates self-initiative when you then contact the faculty member and ask questions and if they are taking any students in that area.
Project funds may be used to pay a stipend to the student for the time they work on the project (at a rate of $10/hour) up to a total of $3,000 per year and $4,500 per student cumulative over their SCHC career. SCHC students are additionally eligible for the USC Magellen Scholars funding program.
A detailed budget must be submitted as part of the application. If during the course of a project, unanticipated needs are discovered, a student must submit a revised budget in order to receive approval for expenses not included in the original budget. Funds will not be awarded retroactively for work already performed without prior approval. In addition, funds must be spent during the approved funding period and cannot be carried over into the next funding cycle. Funds not utilized during the duration of the project remain within the Honors College.
The work schedule is flexible and determined by the student and their mentor: students can begin work as early as July 1 of each year and go as late as June 30 of the same academic/fiscal year. The number of hours worked per week as well as exact nature of the tasks is determined by mutual agreement between the faculty member and student. Any unused monies simply stay in the Honors College. Students can can receive stipend for up to 15 hours of work per week during weeks that classes are in session. During breaks, funding will support up to 40 hrs per week.
As with any funding agency, the Honors College requires a written report on the results of the supported project. If your results are not what you expected, that is fine. Simply summarize and report what you did and what you found and subsequent future research or recommendations that you think should be pursued as a result. Students are strongly encouraged to present their project at the USC Discovery Day Research Fair in April upon completion of their projects. In addition, students may choose to present at a local professional meeting. In some cases, students work closely with their mentor and are able to co-publish the results of their work in a peer-reviewed journal.
Students may use a portion of their Honors College funding to be reimbursed for presentation materials to facilitate their participation in Discovery Day or local conferences if specified in a detailed budget request.
The following conditions apply:
Interested students must contact Dr. Alexander to schedule an interview, Susan@schc.sc.edu. Following the interview, the student along with the faculty should jointly complete the Undergraduate Research Fellowship & Scholars Program application. All applications must include a detailed budget indicating how the funds will be spent (stipend, etc.). Budget revisions must be submitted to cover initially unanticipated expenses or opportunities,however, the revision must be submitted for approval prior to incurring the expense.
Collaborative and interdisciplinary projects involving several students are encouraged. Please clearly indicate and delineate such connections among individual applications when applying. Funding limits are per student, not per project.
April 16, 2012 deadline for funding period July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013
September 4, 2012 deadline for funding October 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013
For more information about the SURF Program, please contact:
Susan Alexander, Ph.D. Director Service Learning/Undergraduate Research 803-777-8005 susan@schc.sc.edu