CNS Undergraduate Research Institute Fellowship
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The College of Natural Sciences announces the 2008 Undergraduate Research Institute (URI) Fellowship competition. The purpose of the award is to support undergraduate research with faculty in the College. The competition is open to all majors in the College. Students should first identify a research mentor and work with that mentor to develop a research project proposal that can be completed during the summer. Students can consult project descriptions posted by faculty on the CNS URI web site (http://wsprod.colostate.edu/natsci/uri/).

Eligibility Requirements:

1. The applicant must be a continuing or transfer undergraduate student at Colorado State University majoring in Biochemistry, Biological Science, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, or Zoology.
2. The applicant must have completed 30 credits at CSU by June 1, 2008. Students who will have completed more than 90 credits at CSU by June 1, 2008 are not eligible.
3. The applicant must propose a research project with CNS faculty.

Awards:

The award consists of a $4000 fellowship for summer 2008. Awardees are expected to work 10 weeks at full time (40 hours per week) on the project and present a poster at the Celebrate Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium in April 2009. Students will have access of up to $500 to help them attend a conference to present the results of their work. To help defray the cost of the research, mentors will receive $500.

To apply, submit the following:

• A completed Application Cover Page - Download the Word Cover Page or PDF Cover Page;


• Three one-page essays, single-spaced:


1. A description of the proposed research project to be performed with a CNS faculty mentor. Students can collaborate with the mentor to develop this part of the application; the mentor is required to submit a brief description of the project on the URI web site (http://wsprod.colostate.edu/natsci/uri/)
2. A statement of the student’s long-range career goals
3. An essay addressing one of the following topics; state and defend your view:
1. Discuss, with a specific example, whether collaboration or competition is more effective for scientific progress.
2. Discuss a specific political or societal issue that has been made better or made worse by a particular scientific or technological discovery.
3. What do you consider to be the most significant discovery in science or mathematics since you were born?



• Two letters of reference from science faculty members (one from the mentor). The letters should address the applicant’s abilities, qualifications, and potential to carry out the project.


• The student’s academic transcript (an unofficial copy is fine). There is no minimum GPA required for this award.

Finalists for the award may be interviewed to determine the awardees.

All application materials must be submitted to the URI Awards Committee, College of Natural Sciences, 117 Statistics, Campus Delivery 1801 by March 24, 2008. Direct inquiries to Dr. Don Mykles, Associate Dean, College of Natural Sciences (Donald.Mykles@ColoState.edu)