Undergraduate Research in Physics Award (URPA)

The ECU Department of Physics announces the Undergraduate Research in Physics Award (URPA) to provide support for Physics majors to do research during the 2025 calendar year. Projects can include up to two student investigators who must be Physics majors with one serving as the primary applicant. Each project must have a mentor who is an ECU Physics faculty member. The maximum funding amount is $1500 per one-student project and $2500 per two-student project. The project budget can include project expenses and Undergraduate Assistantships of $500 to $1000 per semester for each student. The deadline for applications for this funding cycle is 11:59 PM on December 3, 2024. Details about the URPA awards and the application are available on the ECU Physics web site and on the online application.

Program Details

2025 URPA Application (online form)

Applications are submitted via an online form (link above). Before you begin work on the application, you must gather all the parts (see below). Awards will be announced several weeks after the application deadline and will be disbursed immediately thereafter. Failure to include all of the items requested is what commonly results in proposals not being reviewed or not scoring high enough to warrant funding.

Deadline

The deadline for applications for this funding cycle is 11:59 PM on December 3, 2024. Applications submitted after that time will not be considered.

Eligibility

To be considered for an award, an individual must

  • Be a full-time degree-seeking undergraduate student at ECU;
  • Be a physics major;
  • Have completed a minimum of 12 credits at ECU by time of application;
  • Have an acceptable record of academic achievement with a minimum overall GPA of 2.5 and a physics GPA of 2.5; and
  • Agree that by completing this application, you are allowing us to gather information about you through the Banner system.

Application Parts

  1. Preliminary Information
    • Banner ID, name, email address, current GPA and credits completed (overall and in Physics)
    • Name and email address of your co-investigator if applicable. There can be up to two students on one project, but one must serve as the primary applicant and contact.
    • Mentor’s complete name, email address and department/school where you will perform the work. If you have a co-mentor, add that person’s name and email address.
    • Whether or not IRB approval for human participant research or IACUC for animal research is required. If affirmative, the date of submission or approval. No awards will be made without a pending or approved human participant or animal protocol.
  2. Project Title (maximum 50 characters including spaces)
  3. A paragraph that describes your proposed research project including:
    • Purpose,
    • Hypothesis or problem statement,
    • Significance,
    • Your role in a larger project (if applicable),
    • Methodology, and
    • Any preliminary or previous results.
  4. Budget Information. ($1500 max. per single-student project and $2500 max. per two-student project. Projects can include Undergraduate Assistantships between $500-$1000 for each student as well as project expenses.) Provide an estimated itemization (150 words or 1500 characters including spaces maximum) and justification of the project expenses for the amount listed above. You do not need to include a justification for the assistantship(s). If you are only requesting an assistantship, please enter $0 for each of the other categories. Please see the Budget and Spending Guidelines.
  5. Time Period. Applicants can request funding for Spring, Summer Term 1, Summer Term 2, or Fall of the calendar year. Projects can last more than one semester. Please see the Spending Deadlines section of these instructions for more information on when funds will be transferred and the deadline to spend these funds.

Budget and Spending Guidelines

  1. Undergraduate Assistantships are set at a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $1000 per semester or summer term. Undergraduate Assistantships are intended to allow students to work on a project in lieu of working at a job for pay. Undergraduate Assistantships are normally NOT awarded if student is earning course credit for work performed on a project. However, if it is anticipated that the student will work on the project for time and effort over and above what is required to receive the course credits, an Undergraduate Assistantship is appropriate.
  2. Any equipment that is required to carry out the project and is purchased with these funds remain the property of the Department of Physics.
  3. Students maintain ownership of books or software valued at less than $1000 purchased with these funds.
  4. Individual books or software items valued at $1000 or more purchased with these funds remain the property of the Department of Physics.
  5. Student travel cannot be paid for with these funds. Funding for students to travel to present their research can be requested by applying for a Conference Award through the ECU Office of Undergraduate Research website.
  6. Food cannot be purchased with these funds.

Spending Deadlines

The following deadlines apply to funds awarded for each semester. Any funds not spent by the deadline may revert to the Department of Physics.

  1. For projects being carried out in Spring, all funds must be spent by May 9, 2025.
  2. For projects being carried out in Summer Term 1 all funds must be spent by June 30, 2025.
  3. For projects being carried out in Summer Term 2, all funds must be spent by August 15, 2025.
  4. For projects being carried out in Fall, all funds must be spent by December 31, 2025.

Research Mentor

Each project must have a research mentor who is a faculty member in the Department of Physics. After submission, the application will be shared with your mentor. No recommendation letters are required nor will be accepted.

Please Note

  1. A committee made up of Physics faculty will review applications. All applicants will receive notification by ECU email regarding the status of their applications as soon as possible after the review. Some applications may be awarded at a reduced level. Budgets should be adjusted with your mentor and the Department of Physics office staff.
  2. Recipients of these grants will incur an obligation to submit a final report due either May 31 (for students graduating in May) or Dec 31 (for all others). Details about the final report submission will be provided.
  3. Recipients of these grants will also incur an obligation to present their results at ECU’s Research and Creative Achievement Week, the statewide undergraduate research symposium SNCURCS, or ECU’s Undergraduate Research Summer Symposium.
  4. Undergraduate Assistantships should replace the wages that you receive for an on-campus or off-campus job, rather than supplement them.
  5. Applications can be submitted by one (1) primary investigator and a maximum of one (1) co-investigator. All must be undergraduate Physics majors. The primary investigator will be the correspondent.
  6. Only one application per investigator, and one application per project, is allowed.
  7. Upon completion of this application, your responses will be provided on-screen and in a downloadable PDF file. A copy of your responses will also be sent to the ECU E-mail address provided. Please retain a copy of your submission for your records.

Questions and/or concerns: Please contact physicsug@ecu.edu or call the Department of Physics office at 252-328-6739.

2025 URPA Application (online form)

Submit completed application by 11:59 PM on December 3, 2024.