Undergraduate Research Assistantships offer highly motivated undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with a Faculty mentor on the Faculty member's research, scholarship, or creative activity. The Faculty member, in consultation with an interested undergraduate student at App State are encouraged to apply. We encourage Faculty members to thoroughly discuss the opportunity with an intended undergraduate student, confirming their ability to fulfill the requirements of the position and commit to the time and workload involved with the proposed project.
Faculty in all academic disciplines at Appalachian State University are encouraged to submit proposals. Faculty members, in consultation with their selected student, complete an on-line application due by the deadline dates listed. The proposals are peer-reviewed with the quality of the proposal as the primary selection criterion. Reviewers are from a variety of disciplines. Undergraduate students must be enrolled full-time (minimum of 12 credit hours) in the fall or spring semesters. They must take at least one summer session class to be eligible for the summer URA program. It is the Faculty mentor's responsibility to make sure the student meets this requirement prior to applying. EHRA non-Faculty employees are not eligible for URA funding at this time.
Students will be paid as an hourly, temporary employee working with their awarded Faculty Mentor. All hours must be completed in the semester employed - URA hours cannot be carried forward to another semester. URA students will be paid $15.00 per hour for a total of 80 hours per semester. Students will work with their Faculty Mentor 10 hours a week for the 8 week URA period for a total stipend payment of $1,200.00 per semester.
Faculty may only apply once per semester. They may reapply with the same student or a new student (but not both) for continued URA funding, however, they must submit a new application and be selected for funding by our review committee. A second consecutive semester application is not guaranteed and is contingent upon the proposal reflecting continued need and revised outcomes.
URA funding must be used to support students who are collaborating with an Appalachian State University Faculty member's research, creative or scholarly activity. The focus for these assistantships is to assist the Faculty member in moving their research, creative or scholarly activity forward. URA funding should not focus on the student's research or creative activity.
OSR encourages students to present their work at the annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors meeting held each spring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum G.P.A. a student needs to have to be eligible for a URA?
- Students supported by a URA must have at least a 2.75 G.P.A. at the time of the application.
Must the student be enrolled full time while completing the URA?
- Yes. A student must be enrolled for 12 hours or more while applying and/or carrying out a Fall/Spring URA. For summer URA's, a student must be enrolled in one course of either summer school session. Additional course options for summer include a 1 credit Summer Experience in Academic Research or Creative Activity. Notifications about this new summer course offering will be sent out via Google Research Groups and on this website. It is the Faculty member's responsibility to make sure that the student they are applying for has met the minimum semester hour/class enrollment requirements.
How many total students can a faculty mentor support through the URA program in a given academic year?
- A given faculty mentor may request support for one student a semester and/or summer. At this time, Faculty may reapply in subsequent semesters, but they will go through the same application/award process they did previously.
- Consecutive semester URA's are not guaranteed and would require evidence regarding progress on previous semester URA and updated goals.
Can a faculty mentor use URA funds to support a student as part of their large, on-going research program?
- Yes, the URA program supports a variety of projects, including those from faculty members who have large on-going research programs. It is incumbent upon the Faculty member to clearly delineate the role a student will play in the overall project as well as the skill development of the student(s).
When are URA proposals due?
- Proposals are typically due in the semester before the work will begin. For example, Summer support is submitted in early May. Fall support is submitted in August, and Spring support is submitted in November . Note: Funding for the URA program is made on a semester basis with calls for new applications dependent on funding approval.
What is the stipend amount of a URA?
- Students are paid $15.00 per hour (80 hours total) for their time employed as an Undergraduate Research Assistant. Students are paid a total of $1,200.00 during the 8 week URA period each semester.
- Students are expected to work with their faculty mentor for 10 hours per week for 8 weeks (80 hours total) during a given funding period - funding must be exhausted by the last day of classes for each respective semester. Hours can be adjusted based on the work an schedule of the Faculty Mentor and student in order to reach the 80 hours total for an awarded URA.
If you have additional questions, call OSR at 828-262-7655 or contact Dr. Becki Battista at battistara@appstate.edu.
Review Process for a URA Application
After you submit your URA application online, OSR electronically forwards your proposal to a faculty committee from the OSR Advisory Board. Each member of the committee reviews the proposal independently and assigns the proposal a score. After each member assigns the proposal a score, the committee comes together to discuss the proposals and decides which proposals to fund. The primary criteria is the quality of the proposal.
Proposal Requirements
A proposal can receive a maximum of 20 points based on the following:
1. Project goals (Max 5 points)
- Please explain how this is a scholarship for your academic discipline. Include the general design of the project or creative endeavor and an estimated timeline. (Max 2000 characters)
2. Role of the faculty mentor (Max 5 points)
- Briefly explain what role you will play as the faculty member in mentoring this student. Discuss some ways you will mentor the student in this specific project. Also discuss any previous experience you have in mentoring undergraduate students. (Max 2000 characters)
3. Role of the student (Max 5 points)
- What do you expect the student to gain from this experience? What is the student's involvement in the project? Please provide a summary as to what specific tasks the student will be engaged. Explain why you think the student is deserving of this assistantship. If this is a second application for the previous semester URA, please address what NEW skills/techniques/activities will be completed and/or how this additional experience will impact the student. (Max 2000 characters)
4. Demonstrated outcome. (Max 5 points)
- How will your research program benefit from this URA? What are the specific outcomes of this project (e.g., poster presentation, research article, book). If this is a second application for a previous semester URA, please address the outcomes achieved last semester and the new outcomes anticipated this semester. (Max 2000 characters)
If a URA proposal is missing a given section, the proposal receives a score of ZERO for that section.
To Apply
Submit the Undergraduate Research Assistantship form. Only Faculty may complete this URA application. All applications must be for Faculty research - we cannot fund student research projects through the URA Program.
Because this application requires a great deal of information, we suggest you prepare your answers in advance in a word processing application such as Word and cut and paste your answers into the application.
Summer 2024 URA Deadline Information
- Wednesday, May 1, 2024 - Summer URA application link opens
- Wednesday, May 15, 2024 (11:59 pm) - Summer URA deadline closes
- Friday, May 31, 2024 - Summer URA award decisions returned
Award Notifications
All Spring 2024 URA's have been officially awarded. We will begin accepting Summer 2024 applications on Wednesday, May 1.