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Mentor Eligibility

• Faculty, research staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students from any UAF-affiliated campus may apply and serve as URSA mentors. Regardless of applicant status, the project must support undergraduate learning.
• UAF ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈÊÓƵes Include: Bristol Bay, Chukchi, CTC, Troth Yeddha’, Interior Alaska, Kuskokwim, Northwest
• Applicants may only receive an URSA Mentor Award two out of every three years. This policy allows for a greater number of students to receive awards with limited URSA funds.
• Applicants may only submit one proposal for each request for proposal (RFP).

 

Undergraduate Student Eligibility:

• Must be a Degree-seeking undergraduate student
  Students of any year of study, from any UAF-affiliated campus, working toward an Occupational Endorsement, Certificate, Associate's Degree or Bachelor's Degree in any discipline are eligible to participate in Mentor Award projects. Middle ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈÊÓƵ students, graduated undergraduate students and graduate students are not eligible undergraduate students.
• Registration:
  Students must be enrolled in at least 3 credits at any UAF-affiliated campus for the funded semester.
• GPA of 2.3 or higher
  Students with a GPA lower than 2.3 are not eligible.
• Students that have received URSA Student Project Award funding in the same academic year are not eligible for Mentor Award funding.
• Students that have received full funding from another UAF program for the same project are not eligible for additional funding from URSA (for example INBRE, EPSCOR, Alaska Space Grant Program, amongst others) .

 

Requirements: 

• Mentor applicants must have at least one eligible undergraduate project participant identified prior to awarding. 
• Awardees (NOT the students) must complete a Reflection Form by the end of the award period. 
• Final products to be submitted with the reflection form include: 
• Two project photos with captions: one photograph of the awarded mentor
  and student or group conducting research and a photo of choice (action
  shot, project shot, students and mentor, etc.);
• Final Deliverable (completed by students): a research paper, artwork, a
  presentation, or other tangible outcome from your funded project.
• Students involved in the Mentor Award project must present their results at URSA's Research & Creative Activity Day in April of that academic year. 

IMPORTANT: Failure to submit a final evaluation or to submit final products will make the awardee ineligible to receive future URSA funding.

Spending deadline:

• AY2026-2027 funds must be spent by April 26, 2027
• Summer 2027 funds must gbe spent by August 9, 2027

Note for projects pursuing lab or fieldwork:

• Students participating in funded URSA projects may seek out Student Accident Insurance through UAF that will cover them during university-related activities. 
  • To qualify for coverage, student project activities must be: University-sponsored, University-scheduled, and University supervised (by a UA faculty, staff, graduate student employee).
  • Please note that this insurance only picks-up expenses after other insurance coverage (e.g., personal insurance) has been exhausted.
• Apply for Student Accident Insurance through the
  • Scroll down to "Just for students" and click on the "Student Accidental Insurance" tab. Scroll down to the . (Thesis credits F699 can be used as the course name and number on the form)
  • Visit this brochure to determine the type of coverage you may need. 
• Please contact Becca Whitman, Risk Manager, with questions or concerns (rwhitman@alaska.edu; 907-474-5487)

• FELLOWSHIPS

• Fellowship payments may be used to pay the awarded student a stipend. 

• Students must be degree-seeking and registered for per the award eligibility requirements.

• Fellowships are paid by UA direct deposit. The fellowship is taxable and students will be responsible for payment of any taxes owed.

• For those currently holding campus employment: In order to receive a fellowship, campus employment tasks and URSA Project tasks must not overlap. Fellowship eligibility will be determined by a final HR review of the student employment and URSA Project descriptions. If you have concerns, please contact the URSA Office.

• TUITION
  To cover up to 4 credits maximum UAF registration costs for courses directly related to the funded project (course fees not included). 

• SUPPLIES/SERVICES
  To support the undergraduate research project or creative activities. Funded supplies will remain property of the awardee's UAF Department. For this reason, personal supplies (i.e. personal technology, clothes, etc.) are considered ineligible expenses and their inclusion may impact an application’s eligibility for review.  Supplies are project-specific and expendable throughout the award period; therefore, equipment, software, and hardware are ineligible expenses for this award (please see our ITE Awards for funding for these types of expenses).
  
  
  • Equipment is defined as any item which will retain its usefulness beyond one year. Equipment and technology purchases for departments should be submitted with the URSA ITE Award application and are not eligible for Student Project funding. 
    
• UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL
  To exclusively support undergraduate student travel needs associated with the funded research or creative scholarship project.
  *Travel to attend a conference is NOT eligible for funding through a Mentor Award. Students wishing to PRESENT, COMPETE, PERFORM at an event must submit a Travel Award application.*
  
  
• REGISTRATION FEES
  For undergraduate student(s) to attend a virtual conference/workshop or other professional meeting.

For any given round of URSA funding, 25–70 proposals are submitted.

With limited funding we award between 8 and 12 proposals in each call. The competition is high.

1. When an application period ends, proposals are distributed anonymously and randomly to four members of the URSA Faculty Review Board. These faculty members come from all disciplines in the arts/humanities/social sciences and natural/life and engineering sciences. One of the reasons that we request that students write their proposal for a broad audience is because there is a high probability that several of their reviewers will not be in a similar discipline as the proposal. Please see the Scoring Criteria section for more information regarding URSA’s review processes.
   
   
2. The reviewers evaluate and score the proposals and provide comments using an established rubric.
   
   
3. URSA funds submitted proposals in ranked order until the allotted amount of funding is distributed.   

Evaluations are made by a minimum of four faculty members on the URSA Faculty Review Board using the scoring criteria detailed below.

Each of the following are evaluated on a scale from 1 (high/exemplary) to 5 (low/insufficient):

• Is the purpose of the proposed expenditure...
  • To support/create a multi-student, repeating, research opportunity for undergraduates
  • To support/create a one-time multiple student research opportunity for undergraduates
  • To support one student, one time
  • Not clearly expressed
• The explanation of the significance of the proposed project
• The potential for the proposed project to make a scholarly contribution to an academic discipline
• The potential for the proposed project to effect (bring about) an improvement in higher education at UAF and beyond
• The written quality (mechanics and writing) of the proposal
• The applicant articulates clear goals and/or expected student learning outcomes of the project.
• The applicant, through articulate writing and inclusion of detail, makes a compelling case for funding the project.
• The applicant articulates a clear mentoring plan.
• The applicant proposes an appropriate budget for the proposed project.