Summer Research Funding
Description
The undergraduate research office provides faculty with support for summer research assistants through multiple funds.
These funds are intended to promote faculty research and support student opportunities. We allocate funding based on the following guidelines:
- How well the project and or position meets the criteria established for the fund
- Whether the faculty member already has adequate external funding
- The merits of the proposed project
- Untenured faculty and visiting professors with continuing appointments are prioritized in funding decisions.
- Typically faculty without existing SRA funding will be funded up to 2 SRA positions (or full-time funding equivalent). Faculty with existing funding will likely be limited to 1 Undergraduate Research funded SRA position (or full-time funding equivalent). You may apply for funding for more than these limits, but depending on the funding demand, we may not be able to support full SRA funding requests.
Deadline: The application deadline for Summer 2025 funding is March 1, 2025.
Eligibility
- Applications for funding must be submitted by the faculty member.
- Positions need to follow the Summer Research Assistant Policies.
- SRAs must be continuing Middlebury undergraduates. URO funding does not support students graduating prior to the summer, non-Middlebury students or alumni.
- If you do not yet have a student identified, you may still apply.
Apply
Faculty members must submit the online application for each project in MiddApply.
Note: If you have been a recommender previously in Middlebury Apply, you may need to add the role of Applicant to be able to apply. After you are logged in, select My Account under your name in the upper right corner, roll down to the bottom to select Become an Applicant, then Save.
To complete the application, you will need:
- A brief project description including details about the student’s role in the project
- Requested funding amount and budget if applicable
- Information about total number of SRAs you plan to hire and other funding sources
- Estimated dates of research and weekly hours
URO funding is primarily for student stipends, with a limited additional amount for project-related supplies or travel for STEM projects. The 2025 student research assistant stipend rate is $586 per week for a 40-hour work week or prorated at $14.65 per hour.
Faculty with other sources of funding (e.g. external grants, start-up funds, endowed chair funds) are expected to use those funds first to support SRA positions before applying for Undergraduate Research funds. URO funds are typically used to assist faculty without other sources of funding or in some cases, to augment external sources of funding for SRAs.
See a detailed list of available funds for general information purposes. On the online application, you only need to choose the broad funding category and not specific funds.
Approval
Application review will be completed by late March. In a typical year, the notices are targeted to be emailed the Friday before the break.
For additional details see Setting Up Summer Research Assistant Positions.