The URSA Grants program is designed to encourage collaborative scholarly, research, and creative work between undergraduate students and faculty.  Student participants may become engaged in the scholarly pursuits of MSU faculty or carry out a project of their own under the supervision of a faculty mentor.  This competitive program will provide undergraduates with financial support for supplies, equipment, operating expenses and travel.

Part- or Full-time undergraduates enrolled at Murray State University are eligible to apply.  Similarly, all university faculty (and professional staff in specific situations), whatever their college, rank, or nature of appointment, may serve as URSA Grant mentors.  Students may work with faculty from their own colleges or from another of MSU’s colleges or the Hutson School of Agriculture.

Many students have benefited from working collaboratively with MSU faculty.  The URSA office is pleased to be able to provide support to further encourage these exceptional teaching and learning opportunities.  We believe that greater numbers of students need to discover the benefits of these hands-on opportunities in laboratories, studios, libraries, and field sites.  Students who have participated in these kinds of experiences in the past have developed detailed knowledge of research methods while their faculty mentors have gained the valuable assistance of enthusiastic and committed students.

In general, URSA grants will NOT be awarded to support a class assignment or class project.  URSA grants are intended to encourage and stimulate student-faculty interactions and work that extend beyond the normal classroom.  Review of the Examples of Previously Funded Projects section of this web site will give you an idea of the wide variety of projects we have previously funded. 

There is an expectation that when URSA support is provided the work will lead to a presentation at a regional or national meeting, to a performance or exhibition of the work at a regional or national show, or to a publication.  All students who receive an URSA grant are required to give an oral presentation, poster, or performance at MSU’s Scholars Week and will be encouraged to consider submitting a poster at Posters-at-the-Capitol.

When thinking about developing a project that would be supported by an URSA grant, one approach you might want to consider is to continue or extend a project that initially began as a class assignment.  Your previous class work would provide you with preliminary ideas, data, library research, etc. upon which to base further studies.  That preliminary work would be an excellent foundation upon which to build an URSA proposal.

Students are encouraged to seek academic credit for work completed under an URSA Grant.  How credit is awarded will vary from one department to the next.  Independent study, specialty study, special topics, and special problems are a few of the ways that departments have of awarding credit for this kind of work.