Introduction

The Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research Program (SPUR) encourages faculty and undergraduate students in the College of Natural Resources to collaborate on research projects by providing a grant to support their joint project. The funding for this program is generously donated by CNR alumni.

Eligible students who have identified a project or topic that they would like to pursue are encouraged to seek a CNR faculty mentor to assist them. Faculty who have projects in which undergraduate researchers could gain useful research experience are urged, as well, to collaborate with CNR undergraduates.

SPUR for Students

• Laura Lagomarsino: Mapping plant ancestral relationships with Prof. Chelsea Specht
• Subhajit Poddar: Cloning genes with Prof. Kris Niyogi
• Matt Stuckey: How butterflies colonize the Sierra with Prof. George Roderick

What is a SPUR Grant?

The College provides financial support both to student-initiated and to faculty-initiated projects. In either case, the SPUR grant will be paid out to the faculty research account. No funding shall be paid out to students directly so as not to disadvantage students on financial aid, for whom the grant or stipend amount would be deducted from their financial aid package for the year.

Student Eligibility

Students declared in a CNR major who have completed 30 semester units (sophomore standing) and meet the minimum GPA requirement for enrollment in an appropriate independent study or research course are eligible to apply for participation in SPUR-funded faculty projects.

Juniors and Seniors who meet the minimum GPA requirement for enrollment in an appropriate independent study or research course are eligible to apply for funding to support their own independent study or honors research project. Note: Funding is available for current students only and not to support a graduating senior’s summer project following graduation.

Appropriate Use of Funding

SPUR funding may be used to cover lab supplies and expenses, travel costs (mileage/air fare) to research sites, conference registration fees, etc. SPUR funds will not pay for personal lap tops, digital cameras, and similar personal equipment except in extraordinary circumstances.

Any equipment that is approved for purchase with SPUR funding will be considered property of the University of California and belongs to the faculty mentor’s research laboratory. The funding shall not be used for student stipends or honoraria, nor to cover rent, food or other living expenses in the Bay Area.

Sharing research with the CNR Community

Undergraduates benefiting from this collaboration with faculty mentors and from the generous financial support of CNR alumni are strongly encouraged to share their completed or in progress research project with the CNR community in the form of a research poster. The research poster summarizing the project and (expected) results may be presented at either the fall or spring Poster Session. Spring posters are also displayed during Cal Day, where we proudly share the excellent undergraduate research being conducted at CNR with the campus community and the general public.

Funding For Faculty-Initiated Projects

When working jointly with eligible CNR undergraduates on a faculty-initiated research project, faculty members may apply for $500 of SPUR funding per student, per semester. The research funding is to be paid to the faculty mentor’s research account to cover part of the project’s supplies and expenses. Again, no funding shall be paid out to students directly in the form of a stipend or honorarium, so as not to disadvantage students on financial aid, for whom the stipend amount would be deducted from their financial aid package for the year.

Faculty-Initiated Proposals

Each semester the SPUR Coordinator will send out requests for submissions of faculty-initiated projects that will be open to CNR undergraduate students the following semester.

• Submission requests for fall projects will be sent out in early April and are due by early May.
• Submission requests for spring projects will be sent out in early November and are due by early December.
• Submission requests of summer projects will be sent out by mid-February are due by mid-March.

Project proposals should be submitted online via the Create a New Project tab of the SPUR faculty website - LOG IN TO SPUR to do this. Applications should include a clear description of the role of the undergraduate researcher in the project in order to qualify as a SPUR project. Faculty may review their projects at the My Projects section of the faculty SPUR website (LOG IN TO SPUR to do this), and edit the content of the project up until the project is approved by SPUR administration.

Projects may last between one and three semesters, funding will be approved each period (once faculty and student reports received and units verified). Most requests are for 1-2 students per project to insure students receive appropriate mentoring and supervision.

Once the project is approved, it will become available for students to view. When a faculty member has selected a student to work on the project, the student must enroll in units if it is fall or spring semester (the student does not need to enroll in units during summer). When the student has enrolled in the appropriate independent study units, the SPUR Coordinator will send a message to the SPUR financial officer, who will release the funds to the project's account. After the fund transfer, the status of the project (as listed at the My Projects section of the faculty SPUR website - LOG IN TO SPUR to do this) will indicate that the project has been funded.

Student Selection Process for Faculty-Initiated Projects

• How Students Select a Project
• How Students Apply for a Faculty-Initiated Proposal
• Selecting a Student for a Faculty-Inititiated Proposal
• Student Course Enrollment Requirements
• End-of-Semester Reports
• Access to the SPUR Grant
• Closing and Renewing Projects
• Sharing research with the CNR community at the Poster Session

How Students Select a Project

Students will be able to view all available faculty-initiated projects for any upcoming semester on the Students section of the SPUR website. Research opportunities for fall, spring, or summer projects initiated by a CNR faculty member will be posted on the SPUR website at the Apply for a Faculty Project section when SPUR opens for students during the first week of instruction of the semester (or in summer, in mid-March). All interested students are directed to visit faculty members during their office hours to discuss the research opportunities posted.

Note: The process described below includes the spring/fall semester deadlines. For an overview of summer application deadlines please view the Faculty Deadlines for Summer Projects.

How Students Apply for a Faculty-Initiated Proposal

When a student responds to a faculty-initiated proposal, the student submits an application online from the Apply for a Faculty Project section of the SPUR website by the first day of the second week of instruction, that should include:

• Their electronic application form
• A Personal Statement describing their interests in, and qualifications for, completing the project
• A resume
• An unofficial transcript demonstrating relevant coursework and the minimum GPA requirement for enrollment in an appropriate independent study or research course.

The student's application details will appear under the project's details in the My Projects tab of the SPUR faculty website - LOG IN TO SPUR to do this - once the students’ application deadline has passed. The faculty member will then be able to view and compare all the applicants for each submitted project, and to choose the student(s) with whom they would like to work.

Selecting a Student for a Faculty-Initiated Proposal

During the second and third week of instruction, the faculty member should contact any qualified applicants for an interview. This can be done easily from the Pending Students tab of the SPUR faculty website by pressing the "Request an Interview" button - LOG IN TO SPUR to do this.

The faculty member should then complete the interviews, make their selection(s), inform each applicant of the status of his/her application by using the appropriate buttons on the Pending Students page - LOG IN TO SPUR to do this - and sign off on the course enrollment form for the student(s) selected. Once the student has been selected through the online system, the student and faculty member must agree on the number of semesters each student will work. This number must not exceed the number of semesters for which the faculty member originally indicated the project would last, although it is fine if the student would like to work fewer semesters than the faculty member requested.

At this point, the student must enroll in independent research units. The project will then be "Funded," by SPUR administration. Your department MSO will release the SPUR funds to your faculty account. This process can take several weeks.

Student Course Enrollment Requirements

By the end of the fourth week of the fall or spring semester the faculty mentor and each selected undergraduate researcher should meet to agree on the unit credit the student will receive for their participation in the project. For variable unit courses, the unit value will be determined by the faculty mentor and student together, based on established Academic Senate regulations.

Together the faculty member and student will also fill out and sign a departmental enrollment form for an appropriate independent study course – 99, or 199. Students obtain these enrollment forms from the faculty mentor's departmental undergraduate staff advisors. It is important that students check the departmental requirements regarding GPA and units BEFORE attempting to enroll in an independent study course. Also, no student on academic probation may receive credit for independent study.

NOTE: Students enrolling in units for participation in a faculty-initiated research project should enroll in the independent study course numbers 99/199 in the faculty mentor’s home department.

The student will take the completed enrollment form to their undergraduate staff advisor to obtain a CCN (Course Control Number) and CEC (Course Enrollment Code) required to enroll in the course through TeleBEARS. Students must enroll in the relevant course by the end of the fifth week of classes (TeleBEARS add/drop deadline) in the fall or spring semester in which they plan to begin work on the project.

During the summer, the SPUR Program does not require students to enroll in independent study course units. Instead, the student and faculty member should fill out a SPUR Summer Learning Contract and submit it to the SPUR Coordinator no later than the last day of instruction of the preceding spring semester.

Access to the SPUR Grant

The SPUR Coordinator will first verify that each student researcher is enrolled in independent study course units, before indicating to the departmental MSO to release the SPUR grant to the faculty research account. All student researchers on the project must be enrolled in units before the grant will be released.

End-of-Semester Reports Required

At the end of each semester, the SPUR Coordinator will contact faculty and student(s) who worked on the project and will ask them to complete a brief report commenting on the research experience and giving feedback on the SPUR Program. These may be submitted online from the My Projects section of the website - LOG IN TO SPUR to do this. With the researchers’ permission, some of these comments may be shared with the CNR alumni who donated the funds that support the SPUR Program.

Both the faculty and the student’s reports are due before the end of final exams. Such reports are required for each term that the project lasts (fall, spring, and summer).

Faculty are also required to submit final grades for the students’ independent study or research course during the fall and spring semesters. As students are not required to enroll in units during summer session, a final progress report should be submitted to the SPUR Coordinator by the faculty mentor in lieu of a final grade, to indicate satisfactory work.

Renewing and Closing Projects

Projects that last more than one semester will renew automatically once all semester reports for the project are received before the end of finals, and student unit enrollment for the new semester has been verified. If reports are not received, the SPUR coordinator will suspend the project's status until the reports are received. This will seriously affect the likelihood of funding for future projects.

The SPUR grant will close automatically at the end of the duration indicated by the faculty member when the project was initiated. If the faculty member would like to renew the project for more semesters than was originally indicated, they may request additional semesters when they submit their final end of semester report for the project. The project will be sent to SPUR administration as if it were a new project; however, the project's probability of renewal will depend on the amount of funding currently available.

Sharing research with the CNR Community at the Poster Session

Undergraduates benefiting from collaboration with faculty mentors and from the generous financial support of CNR alumni are strongly encouraged to share their completed or in progress research project with the CNR community in the form of a research poster. The research poster summarizing the project and (expected) results may be presented at either the fall or spring Poster Session. Spring posters are also displayed during Cal Day, where we proudly share the excellent undergraduate research being conducted at CNR with the campus community and the general public.

Funding For Student-initiated Projects

Juniors and Seniors undertaking their own independent research or honors thesis research may apply one time only during their time in CNR for SPUR funding up to $2,000 to support their own research project. Submitting a detailed research budget, approved by the student’s faculty research mentor, is a required part of the application process. Note: SPUR grant will be paid out to the faculty mentor’s research account. No funding shall be paid out to students directly so as not to disadvantage students on financial aid, for whom the grant or stipend amount would be deducted from their financial aid package for the year.

Student-Initiated Proposals

• Preliminary Work
• Faculty Responsibility for Student Budget
• Student Course Enrollment Requirements
• SPUR and the CNR Honors Program
• Awarding of the SPUR Grant
• Final Grades and Required End-of-Semester Report
• Sharing Research at the Poster Session

Eligible Juniors and Seniors may apply one time only during their time in CNR for SPUR funding up to $2000 to support their own research project. They may initiate their own proposal for independent research, for research as part of the CNR Honors Program, or may modify a faculty proposal from the SPUR website. It is the student’s responsibility to find an appropriate faculty mentor for their project well in advance of the semester in which the project is to be initiated. It is not sufficient merely to have a faculty sponsor in a CNR department; the actual faculty research mentor must belong to a CNR department.

Preliminary Work

Students who are interested in taking on their own research project are urged to begin the process of identifying a faculty mentor and project well in advance, during the semester preceding the one in which the student project will begin.

During the preceding semester students are encouraged to:

1. Start working on a research project proposal including a proposed project title, abstract, background, objectives and hypothesis, methods, timeline, expected results, references; and
2. Create a detailed budget proposal including:
   • Expected expenses for each semester of project
   • Amount of SPUR funding being requested for duration of project
   • Other sources of funding for the remainder of the project costs
   • CNR faculty mentor name, department, contact information, and signature line for faculty mentor’s approval of proposed budget.
3. Students are also urged at the onset of this process to attend the workshop series offered by the UCB Office of Undergraduate Research. For details and schedules of the workshops Getting Started in Undergraduate Research - Overviews and Strategies.

Faculty mentors are encouraged to provide guidance and feedback to students who approach them during this preparatory process.

Note: The process described below includes the spring/fall semester deadlines. For an overview of summer application deadlines please see Faculty Deadlines for Summer Projects.

The application deadline for SPUR grants to Student-Initiated projects is the first day of the second week of instruction each semester.

Faculty Responsibility for Student Budget

Before submitting the SPUR Program application online, as well as submitting a hard copy to the SPUR Coordinator, students must obtain a CNR faculty member’s signature on the project’s budget proposal to indicate the specific faculty member’s willingness to serve as the research mentor and to indicate the faculty mentor’s approval of the proposed research budget.

By signing the approved budget, the faculty mentor indicates that s/he will be responsible for covering any overexpenditure of the SPUR grant, which is paid to the faculty member’s research account. However, if some of the SPUR grant remains unused by the end of the project’s completion, the funds will remain in the faculty mentor’s research account and can be used toward other purposes.

At the end of the third week of instruction, the SPUR Coordinator will notify each student via the online system at My Projects on the student site as to whether the application was approved and for what amount.

Once the SPUR grant has been approved, students will be directed to contact their faculty mentor for departmental guidelines on how to access research funds (departmental purchase order or reimbursement guidelines and procedures). This process varies by department.

Student Course Enrollment Requirement

Course enrollment is required by the end of the fourth week of instruction for student-initiated projects. If a SPUR grant was approved for the fall or spring semester, the student is required to enroll in independent study units in connection with the project before the grant will be awarded. However, for summer projects the student and faculty mentor instead sign a SPUR Summer Learning Contract and submit it to the SPUR Coordinator to qualify for funding.

It is important that students check their departmental requirements regarding GPA and units BEFORE attempting to enroll in an independent study course. Also, no student on academic probation may receive credit for independent study.

During the fall or spring semester, the student and faculty mentor will discuss the course number and the number of units of academic credit the project warrants. Together they will fill out and sign a departmental enrollment form for an appropriate independent study course – 99, 195, 199, or H196. Enrollment forms are available in each department’s Undergraduate Staff Advisor’s office. For general policies, requirements and guidelines, see Course Enrollment Information for Independent Study or Research.

For variable unit courses, the unit value will be determined by the faculty mentor and student together, based on established Academic Senate regulations.

Please note:

• Students enrolling in units under independent study course numbers 99/199 should do so in the faculty mentor’s home department.
• Students enrolling in units for honors research should enroll in H196 in their own home department.

Students then return the enrollment form, signed by the faculty mentor, to the faculty mentor's department’s Undergraduate Staff Advisor (if independent study) or to the student's Undergraduate Staff Advisor (if honors credit), who will provide the Course Control Number (CCN) and Course Entry Code (CEC) needed for enrollment through TeleBEARS. Students working on their own research project must enroll in the relevant course via TeleBEARS no later than the end of the fourth week of classes in the fall or spring semester in which they plan to initiate their project.

During the summer term, students must instead submit the SPUR Summer Learning Contract, signed by their faculty mentor, to the SPUR Coordinator no later than the last day of instruction of the preceding spring semester. For an overview of summer application deadlines please see Faculty Deadlines for Summer Projects.

For year-long projects students must re-enroll in independent study units each term (fall/spring) or submit a SPUR Summer Learning Contract, in order to receive the approved SPUR semester grants.

SPUR and the CNR Honors Program

If a student is proposing a research project as part of the CNR Honors Program and is enrolling in 8 units of H196 over two semesters in the department of the student’s major program, the independent study work plan must include–as an Honors Program requirement­– the preparation of a publishable paper according to standards relevant to the field/discipline in which the student is working. The deadline to submit the CNR Honors Program Enrollment Form to the student’s undergraduate staff advisor is the end of the first week of instruction (before the SPUR funding application is due).

Awarding of the SPUR Grant

During the fifth week of instruction, the SPUR Coordinator verifies that the student has enrolled in the required units before the SPUR grant is awarded. The appropriate departmental and Dean's Office financial officers will also be notified of the amount of funding being awarded to each project. The SPUR grant will be transferred to the faculty mentor’s research account. No funding shall be paid out to students directly so as not to disadvantage students on financial aid, for whom the grant or stipend amount would be deducted from their financial aid package for the year.

It is the faculty mentor’s responsibility to guide the student through departmental procedures for submitting purchase orders or reimbursement requests.

Final Grades & Required End-of-Semester Report

Near the end of each semester, the SPUR Coordinator will contact faculty and student(s) who worked jointly on a research project and will ask them to complete a brief report commenting on the research experience and giving feedback on the SPUR Program. With the researchers’ permission, some of these comments may be shared with the CNR alumni who donated the funds that support the SPUR Program.

Faculty members are not required to submit a final report for student-initiated projects. The student's report is required for for each term that the project lasts.

Faculty are required to submit final grades for the students’ independent study or research course during the fall and spring semesters. As students are not required to enroll in units during summer session, a final progress report should be submitted to the SPUR Coordinator by the faculty mentor in lieu of a final grade, to indicate satisfactory work.

Sharing research with the CNR Community

Undergraduates benefiting from this collaboration with faculty mentors and from the generous financial support of CNR alumni are strongly encouraged to share their completed or in progress research project with the CNR community in the form of a research poster. The research poster summarizing the project and (expected) results may be presented at either the fall or spring Poster Session. Spring posters are also displayed during Cal Day, where we proudly share the excellent undergraduate research being conducted at CNR with the campus community and the general public.

Faculty deadlines for Fall 2009

 

When?	What?
6/10 - 8/10	Faculty invited to submit fall projects
8/10 (5:00 pm)	Faculty Fall project submissions are due
8/10	Deadline for faculty mentor to sign off on STUDENT-Initiated project research budget
8/14	Projects approved or denied
8/17 (or as soon as submitted and approved)	Faculty projects are posted online
8/20 - 9/2 (5:00 pm)	Students apply for Faculty-Initiated projects online
9/3	Students’ application details are available for viewing on the Pending Students tab on the SPUR Faculty web page
9/3 - 9/11	Faculty review applications, contact applicants for interviews and select undergraduate researcher(s)
9/11	Deadline for Faculty to notify all student applicants of their selection status
9/14- 9/18 (or before)	Faculty meet with selected undergraduate researcher(s) to complete & sign independent study/ research course enrollment form. Student obtains CCN from faculty’s departmental undergraduate Student Affairs Officer
9/21 - 9/25	SPUR Coordinator verifies student course enrollment and starts process of SPUR grants transfer to faculty research account
11/9 - 12/10	Faculty invited to submit Spring SPUR projects
12/10	Faculty submit final grade on e-Grade
12/10	Faculty and student End of Semester Reports are due online

Faculty deadlines for Spring 2010

When?	What?
11/9 – 12/10	Faculty invited to submit projects for Spring
12/10 (5:00 pm)	Faculty Spring  project submissions are due
12/10	Deadline for faculty mentor to sign off on STUDENT-Initiated project research budget
12/18 (or as soon as submitted and approved)	Faculty projects are posted online
1/13 - 1/25 5:00 pm	Students apply for Faculty-Initiated projects online
1/26	Student application details are available for viewing on the MyProjects page of SPUR Faculty web site
1/26 - 2/5	Faculty review applications, contact applicants for interviews and select undergraduate researcher(s)
2/5	Deadline for Faculty to notify all student applicants of their selection status
2/8 - 2/12 (or before)	Faculty meet with selected undergraduate researcher(s) to complete & sign independent study/research course enrollment form
2/15 - 2/19	SPUR Coordinator verifies student course enrollment and starts process of SPUR grants transfer to faculty research account
2/22 – 3/19	Faculty submission begins for Summer proposals
3/1	Encourage student researchers to participate in the CNR Poster Session in mid-April
5/13	Faculty submit final grade on eGrades
5/13	Faculty and student End of Semester Reports  are due online.
6/1 - 8/6	Faculty invited to submit Fall projects

Faculty Deadlines for Summer 2010

When?	What?
2/22-3/19	Faculty invited  to submit summer projects
3/19 5:00 pm	Faculty summer project submissions are due
3/19	Deadline for faculty mentor to sign off on STUDENT-Initiated project research budget
3/29 - 4/9	Faculty summer projects are posted online and students are invited to apply
4/9	Student applications are due for Faculty-Initiated summer projects.
4/12 - 4/23	Faculty review student application details, interview student applicants, and select undergraduate researcher(s). You may actually begin reviewing as students apply starting  3/29, but it is recommded that you wait to see all applications
4/23	Faculty notify all student applicants of status
4/30	SPUR Summer Learning Contract due to SPUR Coordinator so that SPUR Grant may be processed
8/13	End of summer report due
	Faculty should encourage the undergraduate researchers they have worked with to present their summer research projects during the fall Poster Session