Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q.  What benefits would I receive from being a URCA Associate?

A. Students receive many benefits from being URCA Associates. They have up to $500 available to spend on expenses associated with their creative or research project. Additionally, they receive a $2000 award for the academic year of participation. The Office of Academic Innovation and Effectiveness has up to $400 available to assist with travel-related expenses for Associates who are able to present their projects at a regional, national or international conferences or exhibitions.  Click here for the application for travel funds ().

Associates receive numerous other intangible benefits from the URCA Associate Program as well. They develop a close working relationship with their faculty mentors, gain grant-writing experience and develop writing skills during the proposal-writing phase, and polish their presentation abilities during participation in formal symposia, classroom discussions and other forums. Additionally, they learn problem-solving, critical thinking and time-management skills during the course of working on their projects. For many Associates, these areas are at least as valuable as the tangible benefits derived from the URCA Associates Program.  

Q.  What are the GPA requirements to be a URCA Associate?

A. The minimum cumulative grade point average to apply for the URCA Associate position is 3.0 or higher.

Q. Do I have to do my URCA project within the department I am majoring in?

A. No, but things are a lot more convenient if your URCA project is in a discipline you are majoring or minoring in at SIUE. One reason for this is that in many instances, URCA research fulfills the requirements for SIUE's Senior Assignment, which is discipline-specific and is a requirement for graduation from the University.   

Q. I am interested in the URCA Associate Program, but do not know where to start. What should I do?

A. In general, for students who don't know where to start, the URCA Associate application process works in one of two ways. The first is when students have an area in which they are interested in doing in-depth research or creative processes, but do not yet have a mentor selected. In that scenario, the student can talk to their faculty advisor, their department chair or the URCA Coordinator in an attempt to match up with a faculty member who may have a parallel research or creative activity interest.   

Another possibility is that a student may already have a faculty member that he or she would like to work with, but has not selected a topic. In that case, the student should ask the faculty member if he or she would agree to be a mentor, and they can develop a project together.

Ideally, a potential URCA Associate candidate will have both a project and mentor selected in advance, but that is not always the case. 

Q. When do I apply to be a URCA Associate?

A. Students can apply when they reach sophomore or junior standing. Students apply during the preceding spring semester, then participate in the URCA during the following fall and spring semesters. Typically, if they apply as sophomores they will be juniors during their time as a URCA Associate, or seniors if they apply as juniors. This helps ensure: 1) that students are getting into upper-level coursework,  2) are more familiar with faculty in their majors who might be their mentors,  3) and hopefully streamlines Senior Assignment requirements for departments that allow URCA Associate projects to count toward that endeavor.

The URCA Associate Program runs concurrently with the academic calendar, and students need to make sure they are full-time students and will not graduate from SIUE before their time as an Associate is finished. For example, students in the 2009-2010 Associate Program must not graduate from SIUE earlier than May 2010.

Q. When should I start writing my URCA Associate proposal?

A.  The true answer is that it is never too early to start writing a URCA Associate proposal. Ideally, students will have their mentor and project topic in place in the fall before they will apply, and begin writing their proposals over holiday break. It is important to give yourself enough time to make revisions as needed.

In addition to your mentor and department chair, you can also ask several other people to read your proposal. It is a good idea to have someone outside of your department read your proposal to make sure it does not contain terminology or abbreviations that are too discipline-specific or unexplained technical processes that are unfamiliar to those outside the field of study.   

Q. Do you have some examples of URCA Associate proposals that I can look at before I write mine?

A. Yes, we do. Several proposals from a variety of disciplines are available to be viewed on our Sample Proposal Page. All of these proposals were successfully funded, and the students who wrote them have agreed to make them available on this web site to serve as examples for potential applicants.

It is suggested that potential applicants view several different proposals, even if they are not closely related to their disciplines. This will provide a broad overview of the different ways proposals can be written and offer different presentations of various proposal sections, such as budgets, timelines, glossaries or illustrations. 

Q. What if the budget for my project is larger than $500?

A. Some research projects are expensive and do cost more than the $500 allowed by the URCA Associate budget. Students are free to locate funding from other sources to complete their projects, but $500 is the maximum the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program will fund per project. 

Q. What happens if my faculty mentor is unable to continue the project with me after I have been selected to participate in the URCA as an Associate?

A. If another faculty member with expertise in the area of your project is available within your department, and if that faculty member agrees to take over the role of mentor for your project, then you may continue your project under the guidance of the new mentor.  However, if no appropriate faculty member is available to provide the necessary guidance for your project, the project will be terminated.

   For more information on the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program, contact Dr. Laura Pawlow at (618) 650-2608 or lpawlow@siue.edu.