Eligibility & Program Requirements
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for a SURF Award for summer 2025, students must:
- Currently be pursuing a bachelor’s degree at UConn, and plan to graduate with that bachelor's degree no earlier than December 2025. This includes students pursuing Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of General Studies, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Engineering, and Bachelor of Social Work degrees.
- Be in good academic standing.
- Be supervised by a UConn faculty member. (You don’t have to conduct all of your project activities on campus, but someone at UConn must be actively engaged in the supervision of your work.)
- Have not received a SURF award in a previous year. (Only one SURF award may be used by an undergraduate during their UConn undergraduate years.)
Students who accept the offer of funding through the SURF Award Program are expected to complete the following program requirements:
- Present their SURF-funded research/creative project findings at a Frontiers poster exhibition event. Students selected for a SURF Award may present at the 13th annual Fall Frontiers Poster Exhibition in October 2025 or at the 29th Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Poster Exhibition in April 2026.
- Complete a summary report of their research/creative activities to the OUR via the online End-of-Summer SURF report form no later than August 31, 2025.
Criteria for Review and Selection
Criteria for Review and Selection
All SURF applications are reviewed by a committee of faculty members representing various Schools and Colleges at UConn. Primary and secondary reviewers with expertise related to the student’s proposal are assigned to each SURF application.
The review committee uses the Rubric for SURF Applications to assess proposed projects. Applicants are encouraged to review the rubric as they draft and revise their application materials to ensure that they meet the criteria associated with strong proposals.
Recommendations to fund SURF project proposals are made by the SURF faculty review committee. All projects are reviewed based on the following criteria:
Project Description: The proposal identifies a motivating idea, problem, and/or question. It presents a project design with specificity about procedures and methods, including the analytic approach.
Significance: The proposal synthesizes existing, related research or creative work and situates the project within the broader scholarly or creative field.
Goals and Outcomes: The goals of the project are articulated, with specific and attainable products (e.g., presentations, publications, other appropriate outcomes) described.
Feasibility: The budget is clear, appropriate for the project, and consistent with SURF budget policies. The timeline is realistic, detailed, and consistent with the project activities described in the proposal.
Application Quality: The application materials are well written and well organized, presenting the project in a way that is understandable to a professional outside of the project discipline.
Faculty Recommendation: Recommendation provides a positive assessment of the significance of the project, the educational value of the project for the student, and the student's ability to undertake the project. The faculty mentor describes a plan for supervising and mentoring the student during the summer project.
Student Role in the Project: The student will play a central role in project activities, including analysis and dissemination of findings. A higher score is assigned in cases in which the student had creative input in the project's development.
Student Qualifications: The application materials indicate that the student is well qualified and adequately prepared to carry out the proposed project.
Project Significance for the Student: The application demonstrates significance of the project to the student's academic studies, future professional aspirations, and/or personal goals. The student's life experience, background, and/or goals indicate high potential for the summer experience to be transformative.
Overall Impression: The application presents a coherent and compelling project, involving a well-qualified student in a high-potential, well-planned endeavor.
FAQ
FAQ
I have already received another award from OUR. Can I still apply for SURF?
If you have previously accepted a SURF award, you cannot apply for a second SURF award. If you were offered a SURF award and declined it, you may reapply for a SURF award.
You may not receive a SURF award and a Health Research Program summer stipend concurrently. If you are offered and accept a Summer 2025 Health Research Program opportunity, you are expected to contact OUR in order to withdraw your Summer 2025 SURF application from consideration.
You may not receive summer funding through the Caxide Scholars program and the SURF Award Program concurrently. If you are offered and accept funding through the Caxide Scholars Program for summer 2025, you are expected to contact OUR in order to withdraw your Summer 2025 SURF application from consideration.
You may not receive a SURF award and a UConn IDEA Grant concurrently. If you are offered and accept a Summer 2025 UConn IDEA Grant, you are expected to contact OUR in order to withdraw your Summer 2025 SURF application from consideration.
BOLD Scholars may not receive a SURF award during the summer they complete their BOLD service/leadership project (between their 3rd and 4th undergraduate years).
You may not receive research supply funding through a Change Grant at the same time as you are receiving a SURF award if both awards are supporting the same research/creative project. Change Grant funding cannot cover the same research supply costs for the same project as the SURF Award program.
Beyond the situations described above, receipt of OUR awards does not affect your eligibility for SURF.
Does receiving a SURF award affect my eligibility for other OUR awards?
OUR policy restricts students to a maximum of $1,000 in supply awards over a single year (with the year beginning in the summer and ending with the spring semester). This means that if you receive a SURF award for summer 2024 that includes $500 in support for research expenses, you may only receive an additional $500 in supply support during academic year 2024-25 through an OUR Supply Award. Beyond that restriction on supply funding, receiving a SURF award does not otherwise affect your eligibility for other OUR awards.
Can I receive a SURF award in addition to other research funding?
SURF awardees cannot receive additional support from any other funding source that would duplicate the fiscal support from SURF (support for living expenses during SURF project weeks and the research expenses covered by the SURF Award).
However, we would be happy to work with you to maximize the research support you can receive over the full summer period. For example, SURF awardees who are also McNair Scholars have structured their summer research timelines such that specific weeks are covered by SURF funding and the remaining weeks are covered by McNair funding, but these two funding sources do not overlap. The guiding principle is that there cannot be duplication between the financial support received from SURF and from other programs, including the CAPS Research Scholars and McNair Scholars program, IBACS summer grants, the MARC Scholar program, Presidential Scholars enrichment awards, and departmental undergraduate research funding programs. Please contact the Office of Undergraduate Research at our@uconn.edu or make a SURF advising appointment if you would like to discuss your specific situation.
I'm completing my degree requirements over the summer. Can I get a SURF award?
No. SURF award recipients must plan to graduate no earlier than December 2025 and students graduating in December 2025 will be expected to present their projects at Fall Frontiers in October 2025.
If I receive a SURF award, can I enroll in a summer course?
UConn offers a number of different summer sessions that vary in duration. We recommend that you pursue no more than 3 credits of coursework simultaneously with your SURF project. You may elect to schedule your SURF weeks so as not to overlap with weeks when you will be completing summer coursework, or you may elect to adjust your time commitment to SURF during those weeks. Regardless of the approach you take, you must account for your enrollment plans in your project timeline. If offered a SURF award, you will be asked to indicate your summer enrollment plans (if any) and your advisor must initial to indicate his/her awareness and approval of these plans.
I know I want to do part of my research abroad, but haven’t decided what country I want to travel to; do I need to know this before I apply?
Yes, you do. Those students proposing international travel as part of their SURF applications will need to answer additional questions about how they determined that the country (or countries) to which they intend to travel is appropriate for the project, their plans for navigating language barriers (if applicable), and intended travel and living arrangements while in country. Please see our section on International Travel for further information.
My project supervisor is based at UConn Health. Does s/he qualify as a faculty supervisor?
Yes, UConn Health faculty can supervise SURF projects.
I know that another student working with my advisor is also applying for a SURF Award. Does this hurt my chances? Can a single faculty member advise more than one SURF awardee?
The review committee's evaluation of your SURF application focuses on the quality of the proposal, the strength of your qualifications, and your recommenders' support of both you and the project. Your chances of receiving a SURF award are not affected by the number of other applicants working under the same faculty advisor. Faculty advisors may supervise more than one SURF awardee.
My recommender is unable to submit his or her letter by the application deadline – does this hurt my chances of getting a SURF Award?
Applicants are encouraged to speak with recommenders early in the process, allowing them ample time to write and submit letters of recommendation. We understand that extenuating circumstances and busy schedules can make it difficult for recommenders to submit letters by the deadline. Applicants need to make every effort to ensure letters are submitted and their application is complete by the deadline. To ensure fairness to all applicants, complete applications will receive priority consideration for funding.
Can I start my project in the spring semester and continue it into the fall semester?
Yes, your SURF project can be part of longer-term involvement in research or creative activity. In preparing your SURF application, it is important that you articulate the goals and outcomes specific to the summer portion of the larger project and build your timeline and budget to reflect the milestones and costs of your summer work.
Can I use all or part of the $500 in research expense funding to compensate participants?
Yes, participant compensation is an allowable use of research expense funding. You will need to submit a copy of the approved IRB protocol that delineates the plan for compensating participants. The amount you request must be consistent with that compensation plan and the number of participants you have indicated you expect during the period of the SURF project. It is important that you keep records and receipts, per IRB guidelines, in order to document these payments.
Is my SURF Award subject to taxation?
SURF Award funding disbursed directly to students for stipend, travel, and/or supplies may be subject to taxation. For questions related to taxation, please refer to the UConn Tax & Compliance Office's Student Taxation page and Student Tax FAQs.
I have questions about SURF; is there someone I can speak with?
If you have questions about SURF or the application process, contact the Office of Undergraduate Research at our@uconn.edu or schedule an appointment via Nexus under “Enrichment Programs.”
I was not selected to receive a SURF Award. Can you tell me why?
OUR staff are available to meet with applicants to provide feedback about the strengths and weaknesses the review committee identified in their proposals. We will not provide rubrics, scores, or name the reviewers of particular proposals.