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How to Apply

COVID-19: Implications for UGAR programs

  • Travel: if your research involves any travel (within the U.S. or abroad), you must comply with the College policies on travel.
    • Dartmouth continues to discourage all nonessential travel for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, given that, when people are on the move, so is the virus. More information regarding travel policies can be found here.
    • UGAR may extend its ban on funding for travel even if the college lifts the institutional ban.
  • Campus access: undergraduates are permitted access to Dartmouth-affiliated buildings and facilities, including libraries and research labs, only if they register for campus access (which requires participation in the COVID testing protocol). See the policy on undergraduate research for academic year 2021-2022.
  • Student status: if students withdraw from the College for any reason (in good standing or not), they are not eligible for UGAR programs during the terms in which they are withdrawn. If students are accepted for a UGAR program in a given term but withdraw from the College during that term, they must contact UGAR immediately. See the College webpage on withdrawals for more information. 
Full-time and thesis research

Research grants

Applications for leave term and honors thesis research are accepted in the 5th week of the term immediately before the research term (due by 11:59pm). Note that the recommendation request form should be submitted at least one week prior to the application deadline to ensure that your faculty mentor has adequate time to complete the recommendation form before the application deadline. Late applications will NOT be accepted for any reason

  • July 28, 2021 (for fall term research) 
  • October 13, 2021 (for winter term research)
  • February 2, 2022 (for spring term research)
  • April 27, 2022 (for summer term research)

** NOTE: you must submit the recommendation request form at least one week prior to the application deadline

Other research programs and sources of funding:

Application Process

Students apply for funding in the 5th week of the term before they intend to engage in the research. Funding will not be awarded retroactively or for applications submitted in the same term as the research. Failure to follow instructions may result in a delay in your application decision or rejection of your application. Be sure to read ALL of the information carefully.

** Go to the UGAR applications Canvas site for instructions and links to the application submission system.

Application checklist:

  • Application form
  • Research proposal (4-6 double-spaced pages; this page limit does not include references, additional figures, etc.)
  • Itemized budget (not required for students who will be conducting leave term research on campus)
  • Recommendation from faculty research advisor
    • Recommendation request form must be submitted by the student one week before the application deadline

Additional notes:

  • Consult with your faculty research advisor to determine whether your project needs to be reviewed by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects. The review process can be lengthy so if there is any chance that your project will require review, submit your CPHS materials as early as possible (on or before the UGAR application deadline).
  • If you are proposing to travel to a country on the US State Department Travel Warning list, you will need to submit an application for a travel waiver on or before the UGAR deadline.
  • Students applying for funding for group research projects MUST discuss their proposal with UGAR prior to the application deadline.

Notification of decisions

  • Funding decisions are announced 2-4 weeks after the application deadline.
  • This notification deadline is typically after the deadline to apply for D-plan changes. If you are applying for a leave term grant, consider the implications of receiving vs. not receiving a grant in terms of the impact on your D-plan. Refer to the Registrar's website for information and deadlines to submit a change of enrollment petition: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/
  • If your plans change and you are not able to conduct the project in the term for which you received funding, you may not defer the funding to a subsequent term. If the project is unchanged, you do not need to submit a new application, but your application will be reviewed again, along with the applications for that next term.

Email notifications

All communications from UGAR will be sent from the "undergraduate research" blitz account. To ensure that you receive these emails, be sure that spam filtering is set up correctly in your email. The college provides detailed instructions on how to ensure that emails from specific email addresses are not inadvertently delivered to your spam/junk folder.