Award for Graduate Research

While all degree-seeking students in Graduate College programs in good academic standing are technically eligible, the Award for Graduate Research and the W. C. and May Preble Deiss Fund for Biomedical Research are intended primarily for students who are actively engaged in research for a project, thesis, or dissertation. (As explained above, this is a single competition with only one set of forms. The endowment funds clinical and basic biomedical research.) For PhD students, this typically will involve having completed the preliminary exam. Students at other stages of master’s or doctoral work may be competitive if they show exceptional research promise, with justification from the student’s research advisor and program director. A student may receive only one award (e.g., AGR or AGR/Deiss) per graduate degree.

Ineligible programs include (but are not limited to) DMD, DPharm, DPT, DrPH, LLM, JD, MBA, MD, MEng, and MPH (unless in a joint-degree in an eligible program).

**Effective Fall 2023, we have updated the disciplinary divisions wherein we have classified more programs as interdisciplinary and therefore a student in programs such as disability studies, nursing, or public health can choose a review panel more attuned to their specific project. To use these three examples, perhaps “behavioral and social sciences” would be a more appropriate division than the usual “life and health sciences.” In such cases, it is the student’s responsibility to communicate their disciplinary division preference to their program’s submitter.**

Regardless of FTE, an individual with an Academic Professional (AP or BA), a Civil Service (CS), or an Extra Help (HP) position at the time of appointment is ineligible.

The following selection criteria that will be used to evaluate all proposals for Awards for Graduate Research:

• Significance:  Extent to which the project, if successfully carried out, will make an original, important, and novel contribution to the field of study;
• Approach:  Extent to which the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses are properly developed, well integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the project;
• Feasibility:  The likelihood that the proposed work can be accomplished by the investigator within a reasonable timeframe, given their documented experience and expertise, past progress, preliminary data, requested or available resources;
• Impact:  The likely impact of the award on the successful completion of the student’s academic program.

Applications will be reviewed once each semester by a subcommittee of the Graduate College Awards Committee, which transmits its recommendations to the dean, who will make the final determination of awards. Applications for summer support may be submitted to either the fall or spring competition.

Awards will be made on the basis of scholarly merit and are subject to available funding.

Awards will be made on the basis of scholarly merit and are subject to available funding.

Awards are not necessarily paid directly to the student. Unless funded by Deiss endowment, ICR transfers are made to the student’s department, which will likely require receipts to reimburse the student for allowable expenses incurred.

Deiss awards will be made to 4M gift accounts. 

Post Grant Responsibilities: The student is responsible for submitting a brief (one page, single-spaced) report to the Graduate College outlining what they have accomplished during the period of their grant, how these accomplishments fit with their original aims, and whether there were any necessary deviations from the proposed budget and research activities. Research award recipients must submit this short report to Benn Williams (bwilli7@uic.edu) within six months after the end of the grant period, but not later than the date that all degree requirements are completed. The short report should be copied to their advisor.

The student’s advisor is responsible for submitting a letter or email to the Graduate College certifying that the student completed the funded research and used the awarded funds appropriately within one year of these announcement date and before degree completion.

1. Application form with applicant information, including compliance with requirements of the Office for Protection of Research Risks.
2. Guarantee of Matching Funds form (when total requested funds exceed $2000). If seeking more than $2,000, the student must obtain written approval and the signature from the research director/advisor, director of graduate studies or department head who will provide the matching funds. See “Matching” section of the application for additional information. If no match is sought, exclude this form.
3. Itemized Budget Proposal form. See the application form for further information.
4. Proposal Statement of no more than 1000 words (including references), written by the student, outlining the proposed research and justifying expenses. Maximum number of images: 2. The statement should be pasted into the application or attached separately. (If the latter, use one-inch margins and 11- or 12-point font.) Students may wish to segment the statement according to the award’s selection criteria.
5. Condensed CV, not to exceed two pages. The CV must be typed and pasted into the form provided or attached separately. Extraneous pages are removed prior to review.
6. In addition, the student must arrange to have a confidential endorsement letter for the proposal from the student’s graduate advisor (or research director), on letterhead, submitted to the department prior to the department’s deadline. Consult with the department to determine if they would prefer to receive an electronic or hard copy from the author. (Only ONE letter of recommendation.)

• AGR Application

In addition to the six components above, the department adds the Director of Graduate Studies/Department Head Approval form as the last page of the nomination package.

Some nominators have had issues with the DGS Approval form. A PDF version is now available (below).

• AGR DGS/Dept Approval Form (PDF version)

1. Application Form
2. Guarantee of Matching Funds Form (if total requested > $2000)
3. Budget Proposal
4. 1,000 word (max) statement explaining/justifying expenses [an earlier version of this page erroneously stated “700”] including references
5. Condensed CV, not to exceed two pages

Student requests endorsement (or letter of recommendation) from the advisor or research director to be sent to the student’s department/program.

The student’s program/department collates the materials above, in order, and adds the approval form from the Director of Graduate Studies or Department Head/Chair as the final page. The department then submits the application as a single PDF to the Graduate College via Box.

Naming convention: AGR_TermAndYear_Department_NomineeLastNameFirstInitial.pdf

Sample: AGR_Fall2023_Hist_FauciT.pdf

The department/program abbreviation should be the same as the rubric used for your course numbers.

**Effective Fall 2023, we have updated the disciplinary divisions wherein we have classified more programs as interdisciplinary and therefore a student in programs such as disability studies, nursing, or public health can choose a review panel more attuned to their specific project. To use these three examples, perhaps “behavioral and social sciences” would be a more appropriate division than the usual “life and health sciences.” In such cases, it is the student’s responsibility to communicate their disciplinary division preference to their program’s submitter.**

Submit via email to the appropriate division folder in Box. See the “submit” tiles below. If you are uncertain, refer to the list of programs by division in the FAQs.

AGR: Arts_Hu.cg5eou29ex96bktu@u.box.com

BSS: Behavio.6xw92q2pc5899lrj@u.box.com

EMPS: Enginee.w33ofgfigktq2cxv@u.box.com

LS: Life_Sc.yxnvugfzx8yzq67i@u.box.com

Eligible Expenses?  Awards are designed to allow students to take advantage of unique opportunities to further their research, and to aid progress toward their degrees. Effective Fall 2018, the Graduate College is delineating three spending categories–research travel, summer research stipend, and materials/supplies–if not covered by other sources, such as the grant of a major advisor.

Examples of allowable travel expenses are: travel to field sites (domestic or international) where research is to be conducted; travel to archives; travel to confer with collaborators or with distinguished researchers who can make an unusual contribution to the student’s research project; expenses related to attending specialist conference(s) directly in the student’s research area; expenses related to offsite and non-CMEP specialized coursework directly related to the student’s research project.

Examples of allowable summer research stipend expenses are: expenses of conducting surveys; expenses for performances or exhibitions; summer stipend for uninterrupted scholarship in lieu of taking an off-campus, seasonal employment.

Examples of allowable expenses for materials/supplies: extraordinary laboratory materials; access to databases or libraries; significant and unusual photocopying expenses (e.g., of archival materials); special software essential to research; compensation for focus group respondents, data transcription, and/or research assistance. Note: the graduate student and their department would responsible for all aspects of such sub-payments and appointments.

Examples of expenses which are not allowed? Purchase of routine equipment or software that is already available to students in department labs and facilities, journal subscriptions, books, professional society dues, computers for routine use, travel to professional society meetings or general conferences, visa/permits, immunizations for fieldwork.

Quota per program? Currently, there is no limit to the number of applications per program or department; however, faculty nominators should keep in mind that their fellow faculty (human beings!) read and evaluate each application.

Payments? Awards are not necessarily paid directly to the student. Unless funded by Deiss endowment, ICR transfers are made to the student’s department, which will likely require receipts to reimburse the student for allowable expenses incurred. Deiss awards will be made to 4M gift accounts. OBFS info.

Feedback? Due to the high volume of applications, this competition does not provide feedback to students.

• Academic divisions