Provost Research Fellowship

The Office of Fellowships awards two Provost Research Fellowships of up to $4,000 for students with promising research agendas.

These summer research fellowships are intended to prepare current sophomores or juniors to compete for nationally competitive graduate fellowships such as Rhodes, Marshall, Schwarzman, Knight-Hennessey, Fulbright, Mitchell, Truman, Goldwater, Udall, Gates-Cambridge, or the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Candidates will exemplify the ideals and best tradition of Santa Clara University. This Fellowship is open to all SCU students, but priority will be given to Humanities, Arts, and Social Science majors. Candidates must be nominated by a faculty member willing to work with them to develop the research project and application, and to serve as mentor during the summer.

You can apply through the SAURO (Single Application for Undergraduate Research Opportunities) system.

Students must submit their application materials and identify their faculty mentor, who will then receive an email with a link to upload their supporting letter and mentoring statement.

The application consists of some basic information and a project proposal, which should be written by the student after consultation with their faculty mentor. Proposals should not exceed 3 pages, single-spaced using 12-point font and one-inch margins. This includes references and any figures. This will be uploaded as a PDF and include the following information:

1. Project Title 
2. Introduction to the Project Clearly articulate the research question, scholarly activity, or creative undertaking. This section should include why the research activity is important and should be understandable to a non-specialist (approximately one paragraph)
3. Project description: This section should describe the project in greater detail, citing relevant literatre where appropriate. A discussion of the research methods and the student's specific role in the research project. This section is the most important and should make up the majority of the proposal (1-2 pages)
4. Previous Research Experience (if any, one paragraph)
5. Expected outcomes including timelines of expected presentations or publications (one paragraph)
6. How this experience aligns with future plans or career goals Please discuss plans to apply for competitive fellowships and explain how funding of this project will help prepare you to compete for a nationally competitive graduate fellowship. Which one (or ones) do you intend to apply to and why?
7. Statement of importance of diversity in research (one paragraph)
8. Statement of how the project aligns with the ideals and best tradition of a Jesuit university (one paragraph)