How to Apply

Register

All students and advisors connected to a Fellowship must REGISTER. When registering, please update any incorrect or missing information in your profile.  In addition, you are required to submit a paper copy of your proposal and any supporting materials you may have (minus the letter of collaboration) to our office by the posted deadline.

Please note:  All faculty advisors and students on group projects must be added by the student initiating the project registration.  You MUST use their ANDREW ID to enter those individuals.  ID exchanges will not enable you to apply (i.e. cmu.edu; cmu.cs.edu; cmu.sei.cmu; cmu.ece.edu, etc.)  Use of the online application required WebISO authentication for each applicant. 

The Application

Your application is your chance to tell us about your proposed research, why it's significant, and how well you are prepared to undertake such a project.  All parts of your application must be submitted online.  Once you have submitted online, your advisor will receive an email prompt to submit the letter of collabration.

  
Eligibility Requirements

• Minimum 3.0 GPA in the preceeding Fall semester.
• Enrollment at Carnegie Mellon as an undergraduate during the academic year of application (alumni are not eligible the summer following graduation).
• Work with a Carnegie Mellon faculty mentor.
• Conduct research on-campus (the fellowships are not intended to support research at other institutions or study abroad; travel for specific and limited research purposes is allowed with prior permission from the URO).

• Commit fulltime to the research position—the fellowship is in lieu of a job; students work regular hours and submit time cards through their home departments.

Components of Application

• Proposal - 3 pages maximum.
  Please follow the guidelines on the URO website for Type I and Type II proposals. You may submit either type, but you must follow the structure laid out by the URO.
• Biography - 1 page maximum.
  Please use this biography to tell us about yourself.  Feel free to be creative - introduce us to your background and your interests - even those that may take you beyond your formal education and your research interests.  These can include hobbies, travels, family background, what it was like to grow up in your hometown, athletics, and/or service interests.  Or, if there is a compelling story that can explain why you chose to go in a particular direction, this can also be the basis of the biography.  It should not be an opportunity to tell us what courses you have taken, why you deserve this opportunity, or why you chose Carnegie Mellon.  This is a chance to reveal other sides of yourself and help the committee get to know you better. 
• Applicant’s college transcript
  Please include an official or unofficial transcript. The preceeding fall GPA is one of the factors, although not the most important, that we will consider. We will also look at overall trends. If there was a difficult semester or two, we will focus on a pattern over time.
• Resume
  If you do not have an updated resume, please see the Career Center for advice on resume writing.
• Letter of Collaboration written by mentor
  A SURF requires full-time research on campus for 8-10 weeks under the direct and regular supervision of a Carnegie Mellon faculty member/researcher. The Letter of Collaboration comments not only on the student’s abilities but also on how the mentoring relationship will work.  The Letter of Collaboration tells the Committee about the research expectations for the student and how the relationship between mentor and student will be structured and defined, for instance: how often mentor and student will meet; if there are graduate student mentors involved; who will take over if the mentor is out of town for a short time; the timetable for the project; and the nature of the student’s contribution.
• URO History
  Please let us know if you participated in past SURG projects or received Summer Fellowship funding.
  Date(s)
  Name(s) of Projects
  SURG and/or Fellowship

• A BUDGET IS NOT REQUIRED FOR SURF

Program Requirements

Fellowship recipients must:

• Be employed through the University for 8-10 weeks, full-time; this is your fulltime job.
• Be in “residence,” conducting their research at Carnegie Mellon.
• Participate in the various professional development and social activities.
• Plan a meeting with the URO Director and Assistant Director, and your mentor during the summer to talk about your project.
• Submit a written Reflection of your work (instructions to be given at the end of the summer).
• Participate in all surveys connected to the Undergraduate Research Office

• Present at the Meeting of the Minds, May 2013.  

Proposal Types

There are two types of proposals. Which of the two types - I or II - should I submit?

For students who are in the Arts and Creative Humanities, Type I proposals are most appropriate. If you are submitting a proposal in any of these areas, you should see the "Guidelines for Students Writing Art and Creative Humanities Grant Proposals" below.

All other students should submit Type II proposals and follow the standard guidelines below.

Both proposals follow the same Proposal Format in terms of length, font, and printing, and ALL students must submit a one-page biography. All students are encouraged strongly to work with their advisors and also to seek help from the Undergraduate Research Office in assembling these documents.

If you are uncertain about whether Proposal Type I or Type II is most appropriate for you, please contact Stephanie Wallach, Director of the URO, at sw4s@andrew.cmu.edu, or Jennifer Keating-Miller, Assistant Director of the URO, at jkeating@andrew.cmu.edu, or call 8-5702.

You will post this information using the registration link, but you are also required to submit one full copy of your proposal (excluding the letter of collaboration) by the published deadline to our office at 531 Warner Hall.

Guidelines

For Fellowship Proposals, please disregard the section on Budget

Type I: Guidelines for Students Writing Art and Creative Humanities Grant Proposals

Type II: Guidelines for All Other Proposals

The Process

Before the deadline, you should do the following things:

• Ask your project advisor for a letter of collaboration.
• Draft your proposal based on the guidelines in Writing Your Proposal.
• REGISTER
• If you wish, meet with our Director or Assistant Director (this is strongly suggested.)

If you will work with Human Subjects:

- Read A Note on Human Subjects for instructions.